Eden police have issued a thank you to everyone who respected the road closures in Appleby when a suspicious item was found in the River Eden.
The police put out a statement at 1pm yesterday to say the bridge had been closed and the bomb squad has called to Appleby after the suspect item was found in the River Eden at around 12.15pm.
Members of the RSPCA were carrying out their usual checks before Appleby Horse Fair at The Sands when they found what is believed to be ordnance in the river.
The police contacted the Ministry of Defence and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team to attend and closed the bridge leading to The Sands to traffic in both directions, plus the horse wash and pavements around the affected area.
The road reopened around an hour later when the ordnance recovered from the river today was found to be an inert training round. It is believed the object had been in the river for considerable some time.
Eden police said: “A genuine thank you to everyone who respected todays road closure and cordon in Appleby. We appreciate that this took place at a very busy time and location and caused significant disruption.
“On the advice of the Explosive Ordnance Team a 50 metre cordon was required around the object prior to specialist examination. We cannot ignore that advice.
“After being fully extracted from the river bed the item in question was examined and found to be old military ordnance but in an inert state. The outcome of the examination was quickly shared with police resulting in the cordon and road closures being lifted immediately.”
