A Retford pensioner has told of his shock when he was handed what he believed to be a live grenade by a young boy out fishing.

The boy, who was magnet fishing with his gran in the Chesterfield Canal at Retford this week, had fished out the object, which they had unknowingly placed in their bag of finds.

Local man Dave Kent, who was walking his dog, stopped to talk to the pair on Spa Common, and was shown their retrieved items, including what appeared to be a grenade.

Mr Kent, 72, said: "I saw what looked like a plunger grenade and the lad and his gran had no idea what it was. I told them 'that's a bomb' then took it off them and went and put it behind a big tree some distance away.

Dave Kent carried what he thought was possibly a live grenade away from people on Spa Common.

placeholder image — Dave Kent carried what he thought was possibly a live grenade away from people on Spa Common.

"I didn’t really think about it. It just seemed the right thing to do.”

In the meantime, the police had been called to the scene, and as a precaution cordoned off the area around Raglan Road, closed surrounding roads and evacuated the neighbourhood.

The bomb squad was called in, and a police spokesman confirmed later that they were able to identify the object as a training model that presented no danger.

Ann Marsden, who along with her husband, runs the Packet Inn, Retford, said: "Dave is a regular here and told us about the grenade. We've not known if it was real or not as we had no feedback, but we saw the bomb squad arrive to deal with it."

Manager of Retford Snooker, Scott Bailey, said: "We were all evacuated for about an hour and a half while the police found out what was going on. It caused quite a bit of excitement."