London Eye cleared as WW2 bomb is found

A SUSPECTED Second World War bomb led to the evacuation of the London Eye yesterday.

After a member of the public spotted the unexploded bomb on the shore of the Thames, operators of the tourist attraction sped up its rotation in an attempt to get everyone off as quickly as possible.

Westminster Pier was also evacuated and cordons were set up in the Waterloo area of the city. Police boats rushed to the scene and a helicopter was seen circling, but the cordons were lifted after 40 minutes as the tide came in and the area was reopened.

It is understood the police were planning to return at low tide late last night to remove the device. A social media user named only as Kade, who was in a viewing pod on the London Eye when the emergency was announced, tweeted: ‘ The whole area around the London Eye was evacuated by police while we were at the top and they had to speed it up to get everyone off.’

Robbie Watson, who was enjoying the tourist attractions of the city at the time, wrote on Twitter: ‘ Come to visit the London Dungeons and now due to a police incident at the London Eye we can’t leave the building.’

Another Twitter user named Tom said: ‘London Eye evacuated... lots of police and helicopter. Hope everything is OK.’

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police were called at 10.30am to reports of suspected World War Two ordnance seen on the foreshore of the River Thames.’