Police commissioner calls for emergency inquiry after 'bomb' was found at Man U's stadium (photos)

Manchester United's last premier league game of the season against Bournemouth was postponed as fans and players were told to swiftly evacuate the stadium after a 'fake bomb' was found at Old Trafford leading the Greater Manchester Police commissioner to call for an urgent inquiry into the incident.

According to police and security in the stadium who announced a 'code red' just minutes before kick off time, they found an "incredibly lifelike but non-viable explosive device", understood to have been a mobile phone taped to a gas pipe in a toilet in Old Trafford's North West Quadrant, and Tony Lloyd, who is also the Greater Manchester mayor, said the urgent evacuation put fans in danger and called it a "fiasco".

According to police, the 'bomb' was mistakenly left behind after a routine exercise involving sniffer dogs and Tony says an urgent inquiry into "how this happened, why it happened and who will be held accountable must be made after such a blunder caused a premier league match to be abandoned.

"This fiasco caused massive inconvenience to supporters who had come from far and wide to watch the match, wasted the time of huge numbers of police officers and the army's bomb squad, and unnecessarily put people in danger, as evacuating tens of thousands of people from a football stadium is not without risk.' Tony said according to The Independent.

"Whilst this in no way demeans the professionalism of the police and stewards responsible for getting the fans out, or the supporters' calmness and cooperation during the evacuation, it is unacceptable that it happened in the first place."

The abandonment of Sunday’s game at Old Trafford was the first time a Premier League fixture has been called off due to security concerns and Man U has promised to re-fund fans who were forced to travel back home after the match was postponed.

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Source: The Independent