AN ASTLEY man sparked a terrorist alert in northern Spain when security guards thought he had a bomb strapped to him.

John Bourke had security guards pointing 9mm automatic guns at him when he set off alarms in a bank.

Bank staff in the city of Bilbao -- the centre of Basque separatist terrorism -- then watched in amazement as partially disabled Mr Bourke lifted his jumper . . . to reveal a metal spinal support jacket.

But cool Mr Bourke, aged 50, of Kermishaw Nook, said he was not flustered when faced with the armed guards.

He said: "I wasn't scared in the slightest. I just lifted my jumper up. The bank staff all started laughing.

"It seemed that when I was scanned I triggered the metal detector off. They thought I was a terrorist carrying a bomb."

The Wigan branch chairman of the National Association of Governors and Managers was in the northern Spanish city with other governors during a business trip.

They had been enjoying a meal in a restaurant in Sauturtzi just outside Bilbao when the professional electronics engineer realised he had run out of pesetas.

The former chairman of Astley Green Labour Club went into the bank but he stepped on a pressure pad in the entrance and was automatically scanned setting off alarms sounded and security lights.

But even the security guards saw the funny side when Mr Bourke, who suffers from a compressed spine, lifted up his jumper to show the body support - and the staff behind the counter even allowed him to jump the queue to get his money changed.

But Mr Bourke still had another near disaster to cope with when he arrived back in England on the ferry.

His party of school governors had gone on ahead of him at Portsmouth immigration control -- and were carrying his bags containing his passport!