Leeds city centre business Vintage Cash Cow speaks out after bomb squad called over 'grenade discovery'

Vintage Cash Cow buy old and vintage items from people and the business, based on Leylands Road in Leeds city centre, contacted police after discovering what they believed to be a grenade in a package they had received.

A police cordon was put in place and the bomb squad attended. Following an investigation, the scene was eventually cleared and evacuated staff members were allowed to go back into the building.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post at the scene, Vintage Cash Cow co-founder David Weaver said: "Every week, we’re receiving thousands of boxes, tens of thousands of items, and we ask people to send items that are old and interesting, but not to send any old thing, and definitely don’t send things that may be live. Today, we received a suspicious item which we believe is a grenade."

Mr Weaver claimed the item was old but that the business deemed it necessary to call the police in the interest of safety.

He said: “It’s very, very old and had been in our customer’s home for many, many years. Their process was simply to pack up a whole range of different bits and pop it in a box.

“They followed the instructions but when we appraised the item, we felt it was too risky to proceed. Just to be safe, we decided to protect our staff, protect the local community, and call the police to have it checked out properly."

It was later confirmed by police that the item was in fact a grenade, although they did state it was inactive.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “The grenade has been examined by Army bomb disposal experts and found to be inert. The cordon and road closures have been removed.”

An earlier police statement issued while the scene was in place read: “Police were called by a business premises on Leylands Road, Leeds at about 11.37am today (Tuesday October 18) to a report they had been sent a suspicious item.

“Following further enquiries, a cordon has been put in place and the army explosives ordnance department are attending.

“The incident remains ongoing.”