Wrong reaction to grenade find

A PROGRAMME on the BBC recently about policing in the area featured the discovery of a Mills 38 hand grenade left on a wall in Gateshead.

I thought April Fool’s Day had come early or this was an exercise for the police; for four hours they moved residents out of their homes into the street supposedly for safety when in fact they moved them into danger – there is no chance that a Mills bomb will destroy a building.

They stopped one man from entering his home to get his dog when the dog was safer than he was and kept an ill man in the street in need of medication unnecessarily when he could have been quite safe in his own home.

I can understand mysterious packages, but standard British weapons?

Surely they should be taught to recognise the difference between them and explosive devices.

To bring men all the way from Catterick when we have reserve forces throughout the North East... we had all the expertise on our own doorstep. They could have picked it up and taken it to the nearest reserve troops barracks to put in their armoury or at least taken the base plate off and checked to see if it was fused.

The possibility that it was only a training grenade left there by a silly Army cadet to show to his mates then got rid of it comes to mind. They do show them how they work.

COLIN BELL, Forest Hall