Yesterday, Manchester United’s final Premier League fixture of the season at Old Trafford was abandoned following the discovery of a ‘bomb’ inside the stadium.
After a controlled explosion of the device by a bomb disposal unit, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the suspect package was ‘an incredibly lifelike, but non-viable explosive device’.
As it turns out, a security company is said to have accidentally left the dummy bomb at Old Trafford after being used in a training exercise involving sniffer dogs, The Independent reports.
The public isn’t happy, and the company is now facing calls for a full inquiry.
Greater Manchester’s mayor and police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd, branded the scare a ‘fiasco’ that had put people in danger.
People have also taken to social media, saying they are ‘angered’ over the situation and ’embarrassed’ for both the security company and Manchester United.
Others have seen the funny side:
The fake bomb – which was said to have been a mobile phone taped to a gas pipe in the toilets – was found just minutes before Manchester United were due on the pitch, leading to the Barclays Premier League game against Bournemouth to be postponed.
The entire stadium – which holds over 75,000 – was evacuated as bomb disposal experts were called in when the ‘incredibly lifelike’ training device sparked a red alert.
The rescheduled match against Bournemouth will now take place at 8pm on Tuesday.
