Staffordshire police have announced that the terror alert which closed the M6 toll motorway today was caused by a health improvement aid for smokers
Part of the M6 toll motorway near Birmingham was closed following a “police-led incident”. Officers shut the road, near Birmingham, in both directions between junctions three and four, the Highways Agency said.
Armed officers responded to a genuine security alert from a concerned member of the public on board the coach travelling from Preston to London, according to Staffordshire Police.
“The information received concerned a report of vapour escaping from a bag which, on investigation, turned out to be a health improvement aid for smokers,” a spokesman said.
Channel 4 News understands the sequence of events was as follows, writes Simon Israel.
At 8.20 a bus passenger dials 999 on their mobile triggering the alert.
Police instructed the passenger to go to the front of the coach and hand the phone to the driver, who then followed instructions to remain with the bus and its passengers on the hard shoulder.
It's not yet clear what was said by the passenger to precipiate the emergency but Staffordshire police said in a statement this afternoon that the "genuinely concerned" member of the public had reacted to the effects of a health improvement aid to smokers which was in another passngers's bag.
The incident involved a coach which pulled over on to the hard shoulder of the motorway of its own volition. The intercepted coach was a Megabus. Reports originally suggested a man was seen pouring liquid into a smoking bag on board the coach.
Armed police officers could be seen positioned next to the single-decker coach on the south-bound carriageway, as passengers were led off the vehicle one by one.
Military personnel were at the scene with a truck marked Royal Logistic Corps Bomb Disposal. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: “The Ministry of Defence is providing assistance to the police at their request under routine military procedure.”
Police searched the coach passengers one by one.
A spokeswoman for megabus.com said: “We are assisting police with their inquiries into an allegation made against a passenger who was travelling on the 05.10 Preston to London service which was due to arrive at Victoria Coach Station in London at 10.55am. There were 48 people booked to travel on board the service.”
Calum Wilkes drove past the incident shortly after it unfolded. He told Channel 4 News: “We went down the road that was parallel to the toll road and we saw all the media trucks and satellite dishes.
“There was a car that pulled up just before we did, the bloke got out and he put his coat over his head. We also heard that people were being told not use their air conditioning.
“We’re listening to local radio and they’ve said people are being cordoned off away from the bus. But we don’t know where they’ve been taken.”
Eye-witness Nick Jones, who was stopped on the motorway for more than an hour and a half, told BBC News that police warned him to stay in his car, keep his windows closed and not to use air conditioning.
“I was beginning to feel a little uneasy,” he said. “I was beginning to look around for an escape route.”