A SMALL, silver canister prompted a bomb scare and brought Colchester town centre to a standstill.

The object was left outside Lloyds Bank, in Crouch Street, on Friday.

Staff called the police at 9.25am and officers evacuated businesses and sealed off the street.

Rachael Boucher, manager at Dilly’s Florists, said: “The postman came in and said something exciting was going on at the bank.

“He said it was a suspect package by the bank and police were cordoning everywhere off.

“We panicked a bit, because we had a funeral to get out to.

“We saw the bomb squad turn up, but we weren’t evacuated.”

TheMinistry of Defence bomb disposal team arrived on the scene at 10am and removed the canister.

The road was reopened at 10.30am.

Mrs Boucher said: “I take my hat off to the bomb squad guys.

They dealt with it swiftly, with minimal fuss.

“I suspect it was someone who had gone to use the cashpoint and left a metal holder there.”

Helen Kennedy, of the Workshop hairdressers, in Crouch Street, said: “A policeman said we could leave at our own discretion.”

Staff at Owen Aves Opticians were among those who chose to leave their premises.

A staff member said: “It brings a lot of disruption to small businesses, but if they came across a suspect package, they did the right thing.”

An Essex Police spokesman said the item was found to be “non-suspicious”, but refused to say what it was.