THE centre of a village was cordoned off after a suspicious package was found at a bookmakers' premises today.

Police sealed off the area surrounding Front Street in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, County Durham, after the discovery of a suspicious package at Coral Racing betting shop.

A customer reported finding the package shortly after 2.30pm and following the initial assessment at the scene police decided to seal off the immediate area, pending the arrival of a team of experts from the Catterick Army base to deal with the package.

Roads surrounding the shop were closed to traffic and bus operators were advised to temporarily amend their routes.

Affected roads were Front Street, in the direction of Catchgate, and West Road, towards Greencroft.

Annfield Plain Junior and Infants schools were warned of the situation and advised that parents may be late arriving to collect children at the end of the school day.

Both schools were also asked not to send children in the direction of the sealed off area.

The Army team arrived at the scene later in the afternoon and were making initial assessment checks of the suspect package.

Chief Inspector Ian Butler, of Durham Police, who was directing the force operation at the scene, said: "We are taking all possible steps to resolve the situation and bring back a return to normal, as soon as it's safe to do so.

"We thank everyone for their continued patience and co-operation with police requests to stand back from the cordons."