A loud bang heard over large parts of Brighton could have been a controlled explosion of an unexploded bomb found in Bevendean.
The bang was heard in Patcham, Hollingbury, Hollingdean and elsewhere at about 9.45pm tonight.
Sussex Police control said they were not aware of any incidents in the area – but the bomb squad was spotted in Bevendean earlier in the evening.
There are also several unconfirmed reports of a controlled explosion on Ditchling Beacon at the time the bang was heard.
Loren Evans, who lives in Norwich Drive, in Bevendean, took this picture of the Royal Logistic Corps bomb disposal van in her road, near the junction with Hogs Edge.
She said: “This was on my road just before the bang, they put something in the back then drove off very slowly.”
Several people have said there was a controlled explosion, with the location placed at either the Hollingbury Industrial Estate in Crowhurst Road, or Ditchling Beacon itself.
Brighton and Hove News will contact the army tomorrow to establish whether these reports are correct.
They were definitely up the beacon, we heard the bang as we were leaving asda and being nosey shot up towards the blue lights to have a look! They waved us on and passed, so i drove down to just before the hill, turned round and headed back but they were gone. In and out in under 10 minutes
heard the big bang and felt it. Was similar in sound and feeling to the high explosive used in th alps to dislodge snow to prevent avalanches. Bomb disposal van and police car with blue lights on near the footpath entrance to Great Wood ( sometimes called Stamner woods) on the dichling road (i.e. about 200m north of A27)
Sounds like they removed the device from Bevendean and exploded it on clear ground on Ditchling road