POLICE evacuated a Darlington industrial estate following reports of a suspected bomb on the site.

Officers received a call at 2.14pm on Tuesday that a suspicious device had been found at a recycling plant at Albert Hill.

The site was evacuated and a 100-metre cordon placed around the area while bomb experts brought in from Catterick examined the device which is thought to be a mortar shell.

Duty Inspector Kevin McCarthy, of Darlington Police, said that the “unviable” device was safely recovered and is currently being examined by experts.

He said: “There has been a little bit of disruption to the industrial estate and a police presence there.”

Insp McCarthy added: “We would take that precaution with all these kind of incidents, it is about public safety and at the time it (the device) looked suspicious, it could have been a viable device.”