Bomb alerts were commonplace at McCain during my time in Scarborough.

The well known manufacturer of oven chips bought a lot of potatoes from Europe but unfortunately they were grown on the former battlefields of the First and Second World Wars.

Unfortunately a potato is roughly the same size as a grenade and unexploded examples were often harvested with the rest of the crop. And this was a case in point.

The down side on a job like this was there was a lot of hanging about waiting for the bomb squad to arrive.

BOMB disposal experts were called to McCain in Scarborough after a suspected explosive device was found at the factory.

The alarm was raised at 10.45am on Saturday and police sealed off Cayton Low Road while they waited for the Army to arrive.

It is believed the object was a hand grenade which dated back to either the First or Second World Wars.

Insp Mike Fenton, who was coordinating the security operation, said: “McCain are well versed with this sort of situation. It is not an infrequent event.”

Police had to deal with a constant stream of motorists who were diverted away from the busy route while the roads were sealed off.

The bomb disposal team from the Royal Logistic Corps arrived at about 1pm and inspected the device – which had been kept safely under a traffic cone in a grassed compound – and took it away for safe disposal.

• In May 2006 there were two similar incidents at McCain in the space of two days.

From the Evening News on Monday, April 14, 2008.