Bullet shell find caused Efford tip evacuation

THE tip at Pennington was evacuated after the discovery of what was thought to be the shell of an artillery training bullet.

A member of staff raised the alarm after spotting the item at the Efford recycling centre at around 11am on Saturday.

"I was unloading the remnants of an old boat when a staff member came over to me and told me to evacuate as someone had brought a potential explosive item in a bag," said a witness, who asked to remain anonymous.

"They told us to leave whatever we had on the floor and get out quickly.

"The staff were decent about the whole thing, to be fair. They got everyone out pretty quick and were very apologetic."

Hampshire County Council said the site was shut for about three hours.

A HCC spokesperson said: "We can confirm that on Saturday 24th April, at approximately 11am, a member of staff at the Efford Household Waste Recycling Centre discovered what was suspected to be the shell of an artillery training bullet.

"The site was immediately evacuated, and a specialist team was called to remove the item safely. The site reopened at 2pm."