Police called to reports of 'grenade' in car boot

Multiple road closures are in place in Bootle

A possible grenade has been discovered in the boot of a car in Merseyside, police have said.

Merseyside Police confirmed they were in attendance on Strand Road in Bootle, having received a report about a potential device at approximately 13:10 GMT.

A cordon was in place and several homes and businesses had been evacuated as a precaution, a Merseyside Police spokesperson said.

"There are also multiple road closures in place, so please avoid the area while emergency services deal with the incident," the spokesperson added.

A device discovered on a nearby road in Bootle last month was detonated at Ainsdale Beach in Southport on 22 October

The incident comes after the discovery of two unexploded bombs, also found in Bootle.

An unexploded World War Two bomb was discovered at a site on North Atlantic Avenue on Tuesday, 22 October, with another device discovered on the same street on Thursday, 24 October.

The first device found was taken to Ainsdale Beach in Southport, where it was detonated by the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD).

Video footage of the controlled explosion, captured by the news site Eye On Southport, showed the EOD team destroying the device at the beach.