Workers had a shock when they discovered an unexploded artillery shell in a delivery of sand.

The device was delivered to paving slab manufacturer Dave Mills Concrete, of St Leonards, in a ten-tonne load of marine sand from Newhaven.

It is thought the device had been in the sand since being dropped there during the Second World War.

Mr Mills, who runs the business from his home in Sedlescombe Road North, said: "The frightening thing was it had been scooped up by a machine at Newhaven then driven in a truck all the way here before being dropped from a height into my yard.

"It would have hit the ground with considerable force."

As the shell was buried in the pile of sand, Mr Mills, 58, did not realise it was there for several days.

It rolled out of the heap while worker John Cooper, 24, was shovelling sand for the slabs.

Mr Mills said: "It was quite a shock. At first we thought it was a piece of equipment from the sand company but when we looked a bit closer we saw it was pointed with a brass cap at one end."

Mr Mills called the fire brigade who alerted bomb disposal experts.

Police evacuated a section of the main A21 road into Hastings for two hours in case of explosion.

Eventually bomb disposal experts put the shell into a container and took it away.