Police carried out a series of controlled explosions outside BBC Broadcasting House on Monday after reports of a suspicious vehicle.
A bomb disposal robot and emergency services were photographed investigating an orange van, which emergency services later established contained cardboard boxes and a motorbike.
Roads around the building in central London were closed at around 4.50pm and staff were told to stay away from windows while emergency services investigated the vehicle.
#W1 incident stood down and all roads to re-open... (We were called at 3.15pm to a report of a suspect vehicle on Portland Place #Westminster. The incident has now been stood down and police cordons are being removed. Thanks for your patience as officers worked at the location)
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) September 3, 2018
The Met said they first received a report of the orange van parked on Portland Place around 3.15pm, and stood down their officers at around 6.30pm.
BBC staff inside Broadcasting House posted videos and pictures of the incident on social media. Thomas Mackintosh, who works for BBC London News, detailed the police investigation into the van on his Twitter page, posting a video of a controlled explosion on the vehicle, which caused his camera to jolt.
Second controlled explosion carried out by robot on suspicious vehicle outside BBC pic.twitter.com/1cO0yUUwqU
— Thomas Mackintosh (@T_Mackintosh) September 3, 2018
A conference about artificial intelligence was taking place at the time.
Cambridge academic Dr Beth Singler tweeted: “While we are on bomb threat lockdown during the AI conference at BBC Broadcasting House, and a robot is outside blowing things up, some of the BBC helpers are doing tai chi. Well, this just got more surreal.”
While we are on bomb threat lockdown during the AI conference at BBC Broadcasting house, and a robot is outside blowing things up, some of the BBC helpers are doing Tai Chi. Well, this just got more surreal.
— Dr Beth Singler (@BVLSingler) September 3, 2018
