HUNDREDS of rail travellers were faced with chaos yesterday after the third bomb scare in four days paralysed one of the region's stations.

Trains carrying passengers on the East Coast mainline were forced to bypass Darlington for nearly three hours after a former soldier discovered a suspect package at 1pm.

Brian Launder, 52, of Richmond, who served in Northern Ireland during 23 years in the Army, raised the alarm after spotting a home-made device in the subway at Darlington Railway Station.

He said: "If this was a hoax, then it was a very elaborate one. I saw the package in the subway, and it looked like a stereo. It had headphones and wires all over it.

"But what made it really suspicious was a large battery strapped to the top of the package with red tape."

About 250 people, many carrying luggage, or looking after children, were evacuated from the station, and asked to stay behind a police cordon on nearby Yarm Road.

An Army bomb disposal team from Catterick Garrison performed a controlled explosion on the package, which proved to be harmless, at about 2.30pm. Passengers were allowed back into the station at 2.45pm.

Great North Eastern Railways said four trains which would normally stop at Darlington were diverted because of yesterday's incident, with passengers ferried to their destinations by coaches and taxis.

A Second World War smoke grenade was found in a floral tub at Middlesbrough station on Monday, and Newcastle was brought to a standstill by a bomb scare on Saturday, in which terrorism has still not been ruled out.

British Transport Police declined to comment on whether the three incidents could be connected.

They appealed for witnesses to how the package came to be in the subway at Darlington to contact them on (0800) 405040