Grenades found at Somercotes Infant School car park and Roosevelt Avenue, Long Eaton

GRENADES were discovered in a school car park and a house in two separate incidents yesterday.

Several residents had to flee their homes, while a Somercotes Infant School building was also evacuated following the finds.

A cordon was put up around a house in Roosevelt Avenue, Long Eaton, after an old Army grenade was discovered in a loft.

A woman called the police after coming across the grenade as she sorted her late father-in-law's attic at 10am.

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A police spokesman said: "The lady called us to say her father-in-law, who died two years ago, used to be in the Army and they had only now got round to clearing out his loft. They said the grenade was live and still had its pin attached, so asked if we could come and remove it."

Homes had to be evacuated while an Army bomb squad examined the grenade. It was later taken to a nearby park, where a controlled explosion took place.

The police spokesman said: "The squad said it was impossible to estimate how old the grenade was or where it had come from but they looked at ways to dispose of it before carrying out the controlled explosion.

"No-one was injured and people were back in their homes after the cordon was lifted by 11.55am."

Builder Mick Smith, 32, who was working on a house on the street at the time, said: "We saw about four police cars and the bomb squad van arrive. They evacuated half of the street and made us wait at the end. We saw them all suited up and they brought out a red box which must have had the grenade in."

Roosevelt Avenue resident Gillian Hewitt, 66, added: "I wasn't in when it all happened but it is an unusual event to happen round here. I'm just glad they got rid of it safely because, if it went off, it could have been dangerous."

Earlier in the day, at 8.20am, Somercotes Infant School pupils inside a Victoria Street building were temporarily transferred to a different site on Nottingham Road.

Nobody from the school, which remained open, would comment but a police spokesman said officers were called to the incident after a member of staff found a smoke grenade in the car park.

He said: "Officers attended the school and an Army bomb disposal unit was called as a precaution and to identify the object.

"Children and staff were moved into a different part of the school, away from the car park, and the road was closed for a short time."