RAIL travellers across Lancashire suffered rush hour delays today after a suspect item of luggage was found at Preston station.

The station was closed for twenty minutes after bomb disposal experts were drafted in to destroy an unattended briefcase.

The briefcase was discovered in a staff locker room about 2am today by a Virgin train crew member, who alerted security when he did not recognise it.

The disposal team arrived on the scene about 6am and assessed the object before destroying its contents half an hour later.

It is now thought the case belonged to another member of staff.

Sergeant Arlene Wallace from the British Transport Police said: "We received a call from a crew member from Virgin trains who alerted us to a briefcase in the staff locker room that was not his.

"The bomb disposal unit were then informed and arrived to make an assessment of the item before they carried out a controlled explosion. The object turned out to be innocent and appears to belong to a member of staff.

"As a result a lot of trains going in and out of Preston will be running late."

A spokesman for Railtrak said 55 trains were affected with each one being delayed for approximately 17 minutes.