An unexploded Second World War bomb stopped work on a building site yesterday.

Army Bomb Squad experts were called in when the device - believed to be a naval shell - suddenly appeared on top of a load of earth in a digger's bucket in Shipley.

The soldiers eventually packed up the bomb in a hold-all and took it away.

The discovery was made by three builders clearing ground at the former Charlie Brown's site on Otley Road, Shipley, to make way for a new development of three shops and 20 flats.

Builder Martyn Harris, 28, who works for Castleford construction company Strategic Team Group, said: "It just came up in the digger's bucket with a load of earth.

"We all saw it at the same time and looked at each other. We didn't need to say anything - we were all thinking the same thing: It's a bomb!

"It was about two foot long and six or seven inches in diameter; it looked like a shell - the kind I've seen on war documentaries.

"We just left it where it was and rang the boss who told us to get off the site while he called the police."

Police cordoned-off the area and evacuated staff at the Royal Mail sorting office next door while people at other nearby businesses were told to get ready to move out.

David Demot, of the nearby Drive-In Service Centre, said: "First thing we knew about it was when the police came and told us there was a possibility they had found an unexploded bomb."

Bomb disposal experts from Catterick Garrison were called in to deal with the device.

Mr Demot said: "The bomb was very rusty; they (the bomb disposal experts) dug up the foundations of Charlie Brown's and took it away.

Mr Demot said he and his colleagues had watched through windows at the back of their garage that look out over the site.

He said: "Two bomb squad officers came. They picked it up and put it in a green hold-all and took it away."

"We have not been fazed at all; we just carried on as normal. It has been there for 60 years and it has not gone off."

A police spokesman said: "The Army Bomb Disposal Squad attended and took away what is believed to be World War II naval shell."

He added: "It is not clear whether it was live ordnance or not."