Waterloo and Westminster bridges closed due to WWII bomb

Central London descended into travel chaos and two of London's busiest bridges were closed as a World War II bomb had to be dredged from the River Thames.

Waterloo and Westminster bridges have only just re-opened after three hours, but Victoria Embankment remains closed, as specialist officers carry out safety checks.

Westminster Underground station was also evacuated as a precaution, although one entrance has now re-opened.



It was discovered by an dredger who was watching objects being removed from the river. He told the Plymouth Herald: 'We're opposite the Eye and about 100 yards from New Scotland Yard.

'Part of my work is to keep an eye on the items coming out and all day long there's these bucketfuls of muck coming out.

'I suddenly looked down at the barge and shouting 'what the f***'s that? That's a f****** bomb!'

But much of the surrounding area is facing even more severe gridlock than usual, as thousands of motorists desperately tried to find a way through the centre of the capital, and it is unclear how long it will take before traffic returns to normal.

The device, which has been described as around 2ft x 1ft, was found in the river by Victoria Embankment and has been taken in by bomb disposal units after initially being assessed by police.

MBNA Thames Clippers tweeted: 'The river is closed between Charing Cross bridge and Westminster bridge, this is expected to be closed overnight.'

Woody Harrelson plans to live-stream his film Lost In London - based on real-life events of a drunken night that ended with him in a police cell - in the area from 2am, and it is not yet known if the bomb discovery will affect this.



The area sealed off included Horse Guards Avenue where the Old War Office Building is located, which was used by the British government during World War II and was bombed.

London was heavily bombed by Nazi Germany during the war, and unexploded munitions are still sometimes found.

More than 12,000 metric tons of bombs were dropped on the British capital during the war, according to the Imperial War Museum.

Martin Garside, of the Port of London Authority, said: 'It looks like a shell but it is definitely a Second World War bomb, it's two feet by one foot diameter.

'It was exposed at low tide and we are waiting for the army to deactivate it.'

Commuters have been venting their frustration on social media about the situation.



Theresa Kerr, who was stuck in traffic, said: 'Moved about 100 metres #traffic #waterloo #WWIIBOMB #londonnews'.

Another, Gav, said: 'Of course they discover a WW2 bomb on Waterloo bridge 72 years after WW2 finished just as I'm about to cross it'.

Sarah-Jane Price added: 'Get pulled off of Waterloo Bridge by the police because apparently there's a bomb in the water.. um ok. Not worrying at all'.



The Blitz (from the German word, 'lightning') was the most intense bombing campaign Britain has ever seen.

Between 7 September 1940 and 21 May 1941 there were major raids with more than 100 tonnes of high explosives were dropped on 16 British cities.

London, was attacked 71 times and bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights.

More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, almost half of them in London

Birmingham, Liverpool and Plymouth were also hit eight times, Bristol six, Glasgow five, Southampton four, Portsmouth three, and there was also at least one large raid on another eight cities.

Deeply-buried shelters provided the most protection against a direct hit, although the government in 1939 refused to allow tube stations to be used as shelters so as not to interfere with commuter and troop travel.

However, by the second week of heavy bombing the government relented and ordered the stations to be opened.

Each day orderly lines of people queued until 4 pm, when they were allowed to enter the stations, and by mid-September 1939 about 150,000 a night slept in the Underground.

Despite the blanket bombing of the capital, some landmarks remained intact - such as St Pauls Cathedral (right), which was virtually unharmed, despite many buildings around it being reduced to rubble during the 57 nights of raid.