A radio interview sparked a bomb alert in a pub car park close to the Lancashire Police's Hutton headquarters.

The emergency unfolded as BBC Radio Lancashire presenter, Sally Naden, interviewed Joseph Leather, 84, who had brought the remains of a Second World War incendiary bomb onto the bus as part of the BBC's People's War campaign to capture personal stories from the war.

A listener claiming to be a bomb disposal expert in Liverpool, who had been listening to the show, rang in and warned that it could still go off.

The presenter said: "This guy thought it could still go off so I put it in the middle of the car park like he told me and called the police.

"We normally just ask for people's stories and it's certainly the first time I've had a bomb on my bus."

Bomb squad experts from Lancashire Constabulary's Armed Response Team alighted the bus, parked at the Anchor Inn, Liverpool Road, Longton, just before 3pm yesterday (Wednesday).

A 100 metre stretch of the road between Stanley Avenue and Tolsey Drive was closed for an hour and pupils at nearby Hutton Grammar School were asked to stay indoors.

Staff and customers from the Anchor Inn were evacuated. Kate Burgess, 20, a bar worker at the pub, said: "I was so confused and didn't know what was going on.

"It was very worrying but you can laugh about it now."

Mr Leather, a grandfather-of-six, of Town Lane, Much Hoole, said his brother, James, found the incendiary bomb in Manchester during the war after a German air raid.

"It was just a stupid mistake. I had emptied it out 60 years ago, it could not go off as a bomb," he said.

Mr Leather said the device which was about 16ins long and 2ins in diameter and had sat in his garage for the past 60 years.

"There were hundreds of thousands dropped in the war, and it was a good replica for Radio Lancashire, they had been advertising for war time memorabilia," added the retired joiner.

"I don't know what all the fuss is about, in Liverpool children used to collect dustbin lids to put them out."

Norman Harrison, of Wham Lane, New Longton, who was stood behind Mr Leather, said: "He was showing Sally the device because he was proud of it.

"I didn't think it was anything to worry about really."

The bomb was removed as a precaution for further examination.