Afalsealarmwith good intentions

That a smoke alarm could shut down Perth city centre is both funny and sad.

But that is what happened yesterday, when a weird electronic beeping from a public litter bin at the South Inch attracted the attention of the police and bomb disposal experts.

Part of the city was cordoned off for two hours while authorities sought to identify – and disable – the source of the sound.

Motorists were stuck in tailbacks as a result, and a crowd of curious onlookers gathered at a safe distance to watch what was undoubtably a disturbing scenario unfold.

As it happens, the cause for concern was just a discarded smoke alarm, beeping forlornly to indicate it was running out of battery.

It’s a sad indictment of today’s jittery world where such mundane things can have such dramatic consequences.

Then again, the potential cost of not being so vigilant is too ghastly to contemplate.

This time, though, the incident could be taken in good humour, and ended in cheers from a grateful public.

Of course we have lived with terrorist threats for decades, it’s not new, but it’s prevalent again.

The potential for more horrific terrorist attacks on UK or European soil is very real.

At least this time the police could describe the incident as “a false alarm with good intent”.