Birmingham Terror Threat 'Serious'

5:16pm UK, Sunday July 10, 2005

A "serious and credible" terror threat led to the evacuation of Birmingham city centre last night, according to the chief of West Midlands Police.

Around 20,000 Saturday night revellers were evacuated after police received an intelligence warning.

City centre was shut down

Broad Street entertainment district and the Chinese quarter were shut down, and the A38 inner ring road into the city was also closed to traffic.

Four controlled explosions were carried out on a bus in Corporation Street near the Square Peg pub last night, although officers said the item destroyed had not posed a threat.

Bomb disposal squad officers also examined a suspicious package at the Travelodge hotel in Broad Street.

The device, a box with wires hanging out and a switch on top, was later found to be harmless.

Police said they did not believe the alert was connected with Thursday's London bombings.

West Midlands Chief Constable Paul Scott-Lee said the threat police received was "credible and threatened the lives of people in the city centre," but refused to reveal what it was.

He dismissed suggestions that police had over-reacted, saying: "There was an intelligence report which posed a serious threat to people in the centre of Birmingham.

"It was not a false threat. It was a serious threat.

"We put practiced plans into action and 20,000 people were evacuated safely. The public responded magnificently."

The city centre had returned to calm normality on Sunday.