AROUND 100 people were evacuated from a Hampshire industrial estate today after dredgers found an unexploded bomb.

Office workers and HGV drivers were forced to flee four commercial premises after an 18in long shell was discovered off Marchwood Business Park.

They formed a queue outside the Cracknore Lane entrance while bomb disposal teams worked in torrential rain and hailstones to make the area safe.

The shell was destroyed in a controlled explosion three hours after the alert began.

A 200-metre exclusion zone was declared around the bomb, which was found near the La Forge Aggregates site at around 10.30am.

Clive Symonds, manager of Tarmac Trupak, which has premises on the industrial park, said: "The police arrived on site and told us to evacuate. We were told that a bomb had been found next door.

"I wasn't too worried. Bombs have been dredged up before but I think this one must have been a lot bigger than usual."

Georgina Martin, operations manager at King Lifting Crane Hire was also evacuated from her office on the industrial park.

"It was a bit of a surprise," she said. "Security came and said we had to leave. It was a bit annoying that I couldn't get on with my work.

"We weren't told much about what was going on - we just had to wait until they told us it was safe to go back."

A police spokesman said workers at four commercial premises were evacuated for three hours.

Commenting on the discovery of the shell he added: "It's something that happens quite regularly when dredging operations are carried out.

"However, this one was a little bit bigger than usual, which is why we set up the exclusion zone."