Man finds grenade whereas rewiring his daughter’s residence as homes evacuated
A man rewiring his daughter’s house has apologised that he ‘sort of ruined everyone’s day’ by finding a grenade, leading police to shut off the road and evacuate her neighbours
A grenade turned a rewiring job into a ‘ruined day’ for a helpful dad whose DIY ended up ‘just a pain, really’(Image: MEN MEDIA)
A man’s plan to help out his daughter by rewiring her house has backfired after his good deed sparked panic, with police closing the road and turfing out her neighbours.
When moving a box in the loft he found a Second World War grenade with its pin still in place. “But it sort of ruined everyone’s day, not only mine,” he told MEN Media. “I had to go sit in my son’s house around the corner while they were dealing with it…
“I thought I’d be sat on the settee now, relaxing. But no. It was exciting at the time, but now it’s just a pain, really.”
The man from Denton in Tameside, who chose not to be named, was rewiring his daughter’s house on Granada Road when he went into the loft and found the suspected hand grenade at around 12.30pm on Friday.
After working a night shift, he had planned to only spend a short time renovating the house before going home to nap. He was instead left waiting until around 3pm for the police to leave so he could get on with his work.
“We’re doing a rewire and I went into the loft,” he said. “I couldn’t get in at first, so I had to make the hole bigger because it was tiny – that’s why I’ve not been up there all this time. I went up, moved a box, thought nothing of it, and threw it down into the back bedroom. And there it was, a grenade with a pin in it.
“I saw the pin on the side and thought, ‘Jesus, it’s a grenade.’ At first, I thought, ‘Is it real?’ And then, obviously, you think, ‘What if it is? What do I do?’
“I just thought I needed to call the emergency services and take it from there. It ruined my day, really. I saw the pin was still in it and when you watch enough television, you see a pin in it and think, ‘live grenade.’”
The police and Explosive Ordnance Disposal team confirmed at 3pm that there was no gunpowder in the grenade. But they took it away to destroy it, dashing the man’s hopes of a memento from his action-packed DIY.
“I asked, ‘Can I keep it?’ and they said no. No keepsakes, so that was that. But it sort of ruined everyone’s day, not only mine,” he said.
“I was on my own. I had to go sit in my son’s house around the corner while they were dealing with it. Then I came back and spoke to the bomb team. They wanted to know exactly where I found it so they could search the area.
“My daughter’s been worried about the disruption she’s caused in the area – the road being closed and all that. I thought I’d be sat on the settee now, relaxing. But no. It was exciting at the time, but now it’s just a pain, really.”
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