A cordon has been erected by Police around a car park at The Bay CE Secondary School in Sandown this lunchtime (Thursday) after the discovery of what is believed to be a piece of historical, unexploded ordnance.
Officers were called just before 10:00 after a member of the public found the suspected unexploded ordnance within the grounds of the former Sandown High School.
Police have secured the car park site – near the sports building – and are awaiting the arrival of Royal Navy Bomb Disposal experts from the mainland.
Teacher strike action taking place today has meant that minimal disruption has been caused to the school as a result of the discovery.
However, a number of parked vehicles are now inadvertently within the Police cordon.
A Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary spokesperson has said:
“Police are on scene and currently awaiting attendance of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team.”
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UPDATE @ 12:52 – Island Echo understands that the small number of pupils who were at the school today have since been sent home.
UPDATE @ 14:50 – Bomb disposal experts have arrived and have determined that the device isn’t ordnance. Police have removed the cordon that was in place and all services that were present at the scene have now stood down.
Let’s send some metal detectorists to Germany as payback heughheughheugh
What is that supposed to even mean?
Some cars had been trapped in the cordoned area, the motorists will have been angry, it’s an inevitable aspect of being a driver.
Being that the rusty old bomb is on the island, it will be a beautiful bomb, if it blows up it will be atomised beauty.
What a waste of time and money, surely there are people on the Island (Ex-Military for example) with enough knowledge to decide whether or not it’s necessary to get people over from the mainland. Indeed the ‘Armed Response Unit’ should have enough basic knowledge of munitions.
People on the island can’t even drive a car, let alone make a bomb safe…
Not many soldiers are trained in explosive ordnance disposal, that is why we have specialist units. In most cases the bombs are so old you would have to be an expert to know if it was dangerous or just an old piece of metal stuck in the ground, getting the EOD unit over is essential. It can never be a waste of time or money if something goes bang at a school, safety is paramount for the lives of civilians where the forces are concerned.
Is it part of a football ground, because whenever I watch a game, it looks like they are playing on a bomb site..
Your thinking of all the rubbish people leave behind, same as at festivals… people are in general filthy… leave their rubbish anywhere..
I’m talking about professional footballers, cheating, trying to fool the referees and rolling around like they have stepped on a bomb….
Would have thought they could WhatsApp the bomb disposal team using a selfie stick rather than bring them over.