A BOMB scare hit South End Green this morning after a suspect package was found hidden underneath the seat of a double-decker bus. At around 9.10am the package – a box with cables hanging out of it – was found by a passenger on a rail replacement bus whic

A BOMB scare hit South End Green this morning after a suspect package was found hidden underneath the seat of a double-decker bus.

A passenger raised the alarm at around 9.10am after finding a box with cables sticking out on the upper deck of a rail replacement bus which had reached its last stop in Fleet Road.

The passenger informed the driver and police officers soon descended on the area.

Police took no chances as shoppers and diners in nearby cafes were all ushered out of the area as outlets like Marks&Spencer and Starbucks were forced to temporarily close.

The area remained cordoned off for over one hour.

The relieved driver of the bus told the Ham&High: "I called my controller and he agreed that we should inform the police.

"All the passengers were already off because it was the last stop. This is the first time I have had to do this but I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

"I was worried and I had seen on TV what happened in Tavistock Square and the packages they were talking about then looked pretty simple like this one.

"There were all kinds of cables sticking out and I did not want to take any chances. That is why I called the police. They arrived pretty quickly and they came on the bus with some gadgets but we were kept away from the area.

"It turned out to be a speaker but I think it was the right thing to do."

A resident one Constanine Road said: "It was really weird, like a scene out of the film 28 Days Later. The place was like a ghost town, totallly deserted. It's funny to think that one person forgets to take his speaker off the bus and causes all this chaos."

By 10.50am the area had been completely re-opened.