Scare at law firm following suspicious package discovery
ALAW firm was at the centre of a ‘suspicious package’ scare in Stockport which led to evacuations.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes and workplaces in Hazel Grove.
Police were called to reports that a suspicious item had been found at a property on Chester Road at around 4.15pm on Thursday, September 10.
Law firm O’Neill Patient Solicitors confirmed they were contacted by GMP and told someone in its building had taken receipt of a package the police believed contained a ‘suspicious item’.
The firm’s headquarters are on Chester Road.
The law firm said however it was later confirmed by police to have been a ‘hoax’.
They said ‘the package had not actually been delivered to O’Neills and that a mistake had been made by the Post Office’.
A huge police cordon was in place on Chester Road and the neighbouring A6 London Road for several hours, with dozens of police vehicles at the scene.
Properties on the A6, Chester Road and Hatherlow Lane were evacuated ‘as a precaution’, including a McDonald’s and a number of pubs and takeaways.
The cordon was lifted at around 8pm after Greater Manchester Police confirmed that there was ‘no risk to the public’.
“Following extensive enquiries, officers have established that there is no risk to the public,” GMP said.
There were no injuries.
A spokesperson for O’Neill Patient Solicitors said: “Police contacted us at 4.15pm on Thursday to say that someone in the building had taken receipt of a package they believed to contain a suspicious item.
“They evacuated the building and the wider area.
“After extensive enquiries, police said it was a hoax and that the package had not actually been delivered to O’Neills and that a mistake had been made by the Post Office.
“Everyone is back in as normal and there is not believed to be any threat to the firm or its employees.”
A second cordon was in place on Pepper Road, around a mile away from the London Road.
Employees at a business on Pepper Road also had to be evacuated for several hours.
There’s been no further comment on the incident from GMP.