Security firm: 'Old Trafford bomb scare very unfortunate'

The managing director of the security firm responsible for leaving behind a fake bomb at Old Trafford following a training exercise has described the situation as "very unfortunate".

Sunday's match between Manchester United and Bournemouth was abandoned shortly after the stadium was evacuated following the discovery of a mobile phone with wires connected to a gas pipe in the men's toilets situated in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand.

The bomb squad were called upon to carry out a controlled explosion, but police later confirmed that the device was accidentally left behind by a security firm.

The firm, named Security Search Management & Solutions, was hired by Deacons Canines to carry out various training exercises for sniffer dogs at United's stadium last week.

"It is a very unfortunate situation and the consequences obviously were that a lot of people were inconvenienced," ITV News quotes managing director of the firm, Chris Reid, as saying. "Fortunately everybody was fine which is the most important thing."

Manchester's police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd has described the incident as a "fiasco".