North Yorkshire’s police and fire service headquarters was evacuated when a member of the public handed in a box of grenades yesterday.
The unnamed person is believed to have found the grenades while clearing their house, North Yorkshire Police said in a brief statement today.
When they were handed in to reception, staff were told to leave the Alverton Court building at Northallerton and bomb disposal experts called in.
The statement does not give further details on how the mix-up occurred other than to say they believed the grenades were handed in “in good faith”.
Staff returned to their desks more than two hours later.
Between 400 and 500 staff from North Yorkshire Police transferred from the previous headquarters at Newby Wiske Hall to Alverton Court in 2017 in a £7 million move. The building was previously home to the Rural Payments Agency.
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Here is the police statement in full.
“The headquarters of North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in Northallerton was evacuated at around 1.50pm on the afternoon of Friday 27 October.
“In good faith, a member of the public handed a box of what were believed to be grenades, found during a house clearance, into the police station reception.
“North Yorkshire Police evacuated the building, put a cordon in place to protect staff and members of the public, and contacted the army’s explosive ordnance disposal team.
“The EOD team arrived and removed the items, and staff were able to return to the building. No-one was injured during the incident that concluded at around 3.45pm.”
