Second world war bomb disposed of in car park at Hereford racecourse

An army bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion of a second world war bomb in the car park of Hereford racecourse on Sunday. 

The Ministry of Defence said a 29mm Spigot Mortar, an anti-tank weapon, was found in nearby Aylesbrook Road.

An Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attended at the request of West Mercia Police and cordoned off the area.

After residents were evacuated from the street, the army team conducted a controlled explosion in the racecourse car park.

"The bomb wasn't actually found on our site," said Hereford's general manager Camilla Esling on Monday morning.

"It was in a local housing estate that backs onto our car park, which was the closest open space for the army to dispose of it. 

"We weren't contacted but they dealt with it as swiftly as they could. There are gates into the car park so they could clear the area easily.

"Thankfully we had space to accommodate that and luckily it wasn't on the actual racecourse ahead of our next meeting on Saturday."

Hereford: bomb was disposed off near the trackCredit: Edward Whitaker

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said an EOD team from Ashchurch Troop, 721 EOD squadron, 11 EOD and Search Regiment, attended Aylesbrook Road at the request of West Mercia Police, which has yet to issue an update on the incident. 

In 2016, around 100 people spent the night at Bath racecourse after police set up a 300-metre exclusion zone around a 500lb second world war explosive, which was unearthed by contractors using a digger at the Royal High School in the Lansdown area of the city approximately a mile and a half from the racecourse.

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