Police carry out controlled explosion after suspect package probed at Euston Station
Incident follows bomb scares at US Embassy, Gatwick Airport and Chester bus station on Friday
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Police have carried out a controlled explosion after a suspicious package was identified at Euston station in London.
The station, one of the UK’s busiest, was evacuated on Saturday as police investigated the suspect package.
”We’re aware of reports online about an incident in the vicinity of Euston Station,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement shortly before 12:30pm.
“Police cordons are in place as a precaution while officers investigate a suspect package.”
In an update 20 minutes later, the Met said: “A controlled explosion has been carried out by specialist officers and the police cordons have now been lifted. Thank you for your patience.”
Pictures posted on social media appeared to show emergency vehicles outside the London station, with one person writing: “Station at Euston been evacuated and [cordons] all over the place. Plenty of police and incident support teams. Not quite sure what’s going on.”
It follows a series of incidents involving suspicious packages over the past 24 hours – at the US Embassy in London, Gatwick Airport and Chester bus station, as well as at Glasgow’s Buchanan bus station on Wednesday.
The US Embassy was locked down on Friday as police carried out a controlled explosion, while a bomb scare at Gatwick forced large parts of the world’s busiest single-runway airport to be evacuated, causing disruption for tens of thousands of passengers.
Police investigating the embassy incident said “initial indications were that the item was a hoax device” and that an investigation would follow, while Essex Police said two people detained while inquiries were carried out were subsequently allowed to continue their journeys.
The incident at Euston came as large parts of the country experienced travel disruption as a result of Storm Bert, which was forecast to bring up to 40cm of snow and 150mm of rain in certain areas.
Avanti West Coast has cancelled its service between Edinburgh and Carlisle all day on Saturday with the next direct service from Carlisle not scheduled to run until Sunday afternoon.
South Western Rail (SWR) asked passengers to only travel west of Basingstoke if their journeys are essential, and announced that services across its network would start later than usual on Sunday and Monday because of safety inspections.