Shoppers in tears as shopping centre evacuated and bomb squad scramble to city
About 150 shoppers and staff were evacuated from a shopping centre in the West Midlands.
People were forced to leave The Potteries Centre in Hanley at around 4pm today due to a police incident.
“The Potteries Centre is on lockdown,” a witness told StokeonTrentLive. “People are saying something has happened in one of the shops in Hanley. It’s bad, loads of people are crying.”
According to a Staffordshire Police statement, the incident – centred on the Town Road area of Hanley – was due to a “suspicious package” being found inside the shopping centre. A bomb squad was also in attendance.
An update on X (formerly Twitter) from BBC Stoke & Staffordshire has since announced that the cordon has been lifted after the package was deemed “non-suspicious”.
Another woman, who had to evacuate, said: “The shopping centre in Hanley has been evacuated. There’s something going on in Town Road. About 150 people have been chucked out.”
A Potteries Centre spokesperson said earlier today: “We can confirm that The Potteries Centre has been evacuated due to a police incident. The police are investigating and we will update you as soon as we have further information.
“We’re sorry for any disruption caused and hope that we’ll be back to business as usual very soon.”
A Staffordshire Police spokesperson said: “We are currently at the Potteries Centre on Town Road, Hanley, following reports of a suspicious package being found inside the shopping centre. We were called at 3.30pm this afternoon (Wednesday 5 February).
“The shopping centre has been evacuated as a precaution and a 100m cordon is in place. Town Road has been closed. The Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) are providing advice to our officers. We will keep you updated.”
The package had been described by one unverified witness as a “large brown box” left on Town Road near the shopping centre’s entrance.
Potteries Centre then released an updated statement: “We can confirm that The Potteries Centre is now open and it is business as usual, following the evacuation earlier today.
“We would like to thank staff and customers for their support. They responded in a calm manner evacuating as quickly as possible to let the police do their job of making the centre safe.
“We apologise for any disruption, but the safety of the public, our staff and customers is paramount. We would like to thank the police for their support in dealing with the incident which has now been resolved.”
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