A BUILDING site was evacuated after a suspected World War Two bomb was discovered.

Police set up a cordon around the site in Aveley, just off the Aveley Bypass, and the military's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit arrived.

Workers on the site - where 340 new homes are being built by housebuilder Persimmon - claim they first came across the foot-long item on Wednesday, but assumed it was just "a piece of old metal".

One builder, who did not wish to be named, claimed: "One of my mates came across it on Wednesday. He brought it up on the scaffold and said what do you reckon this is?

"We weren't sure. One guy kicked it and said it was just a piece of old metal.

"It was only when we looked on Google at unexploded World War Two bombs that we realised what it was.

Thurrock Gazette: Bomb

Workers on the site say this is the unexploded shell that has led to the site they're working on to be evacuated.

"We called the police and they've moved us all off site."

Another worker sent a picture to the Gazette of what he said was the unexploded shell.

Police were called to the site just after 9am and hastily ushered people off the site.

When the EOD arrived, they removed the item from the site safely by 1.30pm.

A spokesman for Persimmon simply said: "The item has been removed. There is no risk."

Work to build 340 new homes on a site just off the Bypass started in September.