Calne Bomb Scare + cntrl'd explosion, December 1996

On December 1, 1996, at around 6:30pm, someone phoned the police to say they'd left a bomb at Calne Town Hall. I realized something was up because my TV picture would be scrambled with interference whenever a nearby police car was transmitting, and if they were close enough then it would completely over-ride the TV for a few seconds with garbled police transmissions. That evening the TV had been acting up for a good 20 minutes at least before I looked out of the window. This video starts shortly after that, just as I realize something is big underway and start scrabbling for leads and spare tapes and running downstairs to tell everyone else.

Sorry that you can't see the bomb or the controlled explosion itself, but you can definitely hear it (along with my unedited reaction at 8:48pm). I'd anticipated the CE and had opened the window to catch the sound, although I probably would have heard it well enough even with the windows closed.

I don't know if anyone was arrested, but there was another bomb scare just across the road about a month later, and a group of kids were arrested and charged for that. I think the two may have been linked, but if anyone can shed any more light on it I'd be grateful. Google turns up nothing.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• calne
• town
• hall
• wiltshire
• bomb
• scare
• evacuation
• police
• scanner
• controlled
• explosion
• camcorder
• caught
• on
• camera
• video
• eyewitness
• disposal
• news

[Weathergoat]

@spliffytheskunk OK, will look around for the over the weekend!

[spliffytheskunk]

Would be interested in see video of second incident!

[Weathergoat]

@spliffytheskunk ah, OK. Thanks for letting me know cos I always wondered. The only thing I remembered was the police saying the 'bomb' contained a bunch of Scrabble letters.

I do also have video of the second incident but its really boring.

[spliffytheskunk]

yes, all been punished end of subject!

[Weathergoat]

@spliffytheskunk Thanks for that! Do you know anything more about both incidents, ie whether anyone was caught and arrested?

[spliffytheskunk]

No they were not linked, totally separate events.