Bomb scare disrupts hundreds

Police sealed off an area between Cavendish Drive and Puhinui Rd after a call suggesting a bomb had been planted. Picture / Richard Robinson

A fire station was evacuated and hundreds of people, including school pupils and bus drivers, were disrupted after a bomb scare in South Auckland yesterday.

Police cordoned off the area between Cavendish Drive and Puhinui Rd in Papatoetoe after a bomb threat was made just after midday.

Police spokeswoman Angeline Barlow said the caller suggested a package left at the front door of the Vodafone Call Centre in Lambie Drive was a bomb.

Businesses, factories, a preschool, the Counties Manukau District Health Board and the Counties Manukau Fire Service headquarters, which includes Papatoetoe fire station, were all evacuated.

Close to 100 people from Stagecoach, which is behind the Vodafone call centre, were also evacuated just as buses were due to start school runs.

Many evacuees gathered at the nearby Super Centre while others, including Vodafone staff, were sent to Puhinui Primary School.

School principal Kevin Hornby said several hundred people arrived at the school in the middle of lunchtime. Pupils were told to stay off the field where the evacuees gathered.

The bomb scare came on the day pupils were meant to go home early so staff could conduct parent teacher interviews. But police said that rather than going home, students would be safer in the school grounds, so they remained there until 3pm. Dozens of parents were turned away from interviews.

Police found the suspicious package - a red courier post bag - was empty and allowed people to return to work just before 3pm.

The Papatoetoe area was covered by other Counties Manukau fire stations during the bomb scare.

While some workers said the evacuation was frustrating, others took it as a perfect excuse for a spot of shopping.

Vodafone would not comment on the scare, saying it was a police matter.