FOUR health centres and a doctor's surgery in Burnley were evacuated today after police received a warning that a bomb had been planted.

Part of Burnley town centre came to a standstill as police sealed roads and evacuated about 150 people from health centres at St Nicholas on Saunder Bank, Kiddrow Lane, Crowther Street and Oxford Road and a doctor's surgery on Yorkshire Street.

The alert was sounded before 9am when a warning was received by a BT operator in Crewe. Police officers from Burnley, a specialist team from Great Harwood, bomb disposal experts and a dog trained to sniff out explosives searched the buildings.

By 9.40am Kiddrow Lane had the all clear and, at 11.20am, St Nicholas, but the other areas remained sealed off.

Inspector John Grice said: "The telephone warning said a bomb had been planted in a health centre in Burnley. "Obviously, the events at Aintree and Wilmslow had to be borne in mind and we are following Lancashire Police headquarters' procedure.

"We have tried to minimise the inconvenience, but we have to make sure the buildings are safe."

Tony and Mary Durkin, of Burnley, were in St Nicholas Health Centre when police arrived asking people to leave.

Tony, 59, said: "To me the people who do this are a load of complete idiots. It is just scandalous. People just want to get on with their ordinary lives."

Police evacuated staff from a chemist near to Saunder Bank and social services' staff were told to move away from the rear of the building.

Locality manager at St Nicholas, Angela Brown, said: "You don't really believe that it is happening. Patients have just expressed disbelief and there is confusion."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.