OTLEY town centre was closed off and shops were evacuated after a hand grenade was donated to Oxfam.

Roads were closed and the bomb squad was called after shocked staff found the grenade at about 1pm today while sorting through donations.

The hand grenade was found not to be live - and the town was getting back to normal at about 3.30pm.

Alex Leggat, who is a volunteer at the Boroughgate shop, said: "It was an old hand grenade but they couldn't be sure whether or not it was live. Someone had brought it back from a school battlefield trip.

"Luckily a PCSO was walking by and he contacted the police. Eventually the bomb squad came and took it away."

He said the hand grenade had been discovered by another volunteer and they had no idea who had brought it in.

"Because of the system we operate people are handing in donations and they are put into quarantine for three days," he said.

"When the volunteer came to sort the donations they found it. It was in a bag labelled hand grenade brought back from a school battlefield trip

"As it happens it was fortunate that the PCSO was walking by and they dealt with it very efficiently.

He said all the shops were evacuated on both sides of the road and the street was closed off to traffic, but the town was now getting back to normal.

"I think they did a good job - you have to be safe rather than sorry," he added.

He stressed: "We don't normally accept any ammunition of any sort."

First West Yorkshire tweeted earlier this afternoon: "Otley Bus Station and surrounding roads closed due to a bomb scare.

"Delays expected due to traffic gridlock."

In a later update, First said the police cordon in the area had been reduced and access was now available to the bus station and services would revert to the normal route.

West Yorkshire Police said: "At 1pm today police received a report of a rusted hand grenade being found among donations to a charity shop in Boroughgate, Otley.

"A cordon was put in place for public safety pending the arrival of Army bomb disposal experts. They attended at 3pm and removed the item which was believed to be a harmless battlefield souvenir."