Army's safe disposal of ammunition shell from canal at Nelson

The unsual discovery came to light on Monday afternoon when a member of the public magnet fishing in the canal off Scotland Road, pulled out a device, initially believed to be a First World War incendiary device.

A unit from the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called to safely dispose of the device while a cordon was put in place to keep traffic away.

Traffic was diverted on the A682, including the roundabout near the Texaco garage, just before the motorway junction 13.

Police officers attended the scene with a road closure put in place on Scotland Road. They stressed there was no danger to the public during the incident.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "The device appeared to have been the casing of an ammunition shell. The incident was eventually stood down and the EOD took it away."

The actual disposal took around an hour and all the roads were reopened after several hours around 6pm.