Corby supermarket closed by police as they deal with '˜incident'

The Tesco Extra store in Oakley Road, Corby, has been closed and members of the public are being urged to avoid the area.

The RAF bomb disposal team is there and the store has been evacuated.

A controlled explosion took place at about 3.40pm, but it is not yet known what it was.

A spokesman for Northants Police said: “Police are currently dealing with an incident at the Tesco Extra store in Oakley Road, Corby.

“Please be aware that the store and the store car park are currently closed and members of the public are asked to avoid the area until further notice.

“Thank you for you patience.”

There are about eight police cars and two ambulance cars at the scene.

Our reporter Kate Cronin is also at the scene and she spoke to one worker, who said: “They’ve not given us any details but they won’t let us near the store.

“It happened at about 2pm.

“There are still workers in the store.”

Speaking about what she can see at the scene, Kate said: “There was a relatively calm atmosphere until about 3.35pm.

“Emergency services were milling around and some members of the public were watching from afar.

“It was eerily quiet because all the roads were closed.

“A little robot was sent down the road from the small roundabout at the entrance to Tesco, past the TA building and to the recycling area.

“At about 3.40pm the commanding officer told all the emergency services personnel to put the bomb disposal unit between themselves and ‘it’, then said ‘firing.’

“There was a huge explosion that you could feel right through your bones.

“People are feeling pretty anxious.

“A member of the bomb disposal unit then walked down to the recycling bins, past the TA building, to see the results of the explosion.”

Oakley Road was closed completely to traffic, leading to problems on nearby roads including Geddington Road, Lloyds Road and Weldon Road.

And several people posted about the incident on Facebook.

One person wrote: “Still closed off both roads leading into Tesco.”

Another Facebook post said: “Tesco workers out helping police re-direct traffic away still lots of police turning up there’s roughly between 30-40 police and about 15-20 police cars all blocking entries.”

The incident has also affected the train line.

A tweet from East Midlands Trains said: “Police are dealing with an incident near the railway at Corby meaning our trains are unable to run between Kettering and Corby.

“More information to follow soon.”

However, Oakley Road was re-opened at about 4.20pm and stranded traffic is now being allowed out of the industrial estate.

The Tesco petrol station has re-opened, although some workers are still on lockdown inside the store and the car park and supermarket remains shut.

Just after 4.30pm, Northants Police said the situation had been resolved.

For more details and further information from the police, click here