FERRY services between Poole and Studand were suspended for nearly four hours yesterday after reports of an unexploded 'bomb' being found.

A spokesperson for the Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company said that officers from Dorset Police closed Ferry Road in Studland due to an ordnance being found around 4pm.

They added: “The police told us that they had closed Ferry Road in Studland due to an unexploded bomb being found on the side of the road."

He added that they ran a ferry service for people who were waiting to leave from the Studland side but were not bringing passengers over from Poole.

A Dorset Police spokesman confirmed that an EOD team attended the scene.

At the time, they added: "An unexploded ordnance has been found on Ferry Road, near to Jerry's Point. It's not an uncommon occurrence in the area.

"The entire length of Ferry Road has been closed while emergency services deal with the incident.

"At this point no one has been evacuated."

The device, believed to be some kind of projectile, was taken away by the EOD team around 7.30pm and the road reopened.

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Barney Waters, 43, and his son, Reuben, 12, notified some passing coastguard officers about the find.

He said: "I saw two people from the coastguard on the shoreline and called them over.

“I said ‘I’m glad to see you here. I need to speak to you about something. I think I have found what might be a bomb.'"

He said that they both then looked on as the bomb disposal team arrived at the scene and police closed the road. 

A spokesperson for the Coastguard said: “It was our coastguard rescue team who found it, while on patrol, at around 3.30pm.

"There was some possible ordnance found on Ferry Road around a mile away from the ferry crossing.

"It was found on the side of the road. It had been dumped in a tree and is believed to be some kind of projectile, of a rusty appearance.”