‘Radioactive’ waste has been found inside bin bags near a primary school leading to at least a dozen homes being evacuated in London.
A cleaner made the shocking discovery whilst clearing out the property of elderly ‘hoarders’ in Hammersmith, West London.
They had been hired to empty the semi-detached council house in Bentworth Road and took the rubbish bags to a scrap dealer with a colleague.
It was there the bags were scanned and the private cleaning firm employees were told they were ‘radioactive’.
Emergency crews were called to the scene at 7pm on Thursday and specialist police officers swarmed the street as residents were evacuated from nearby homes.
Others were warned not to enter the street until it was safe, with one neighbour saying they couldn’t get back into their home after work because the street was blocked off.
One of the cleaners, called George, told the Metro that he believed a 90-year-old woman lived in the property when she died, while a male occupant was now in a home.
He added that the couple were ‘serious hoarders’, with every room in the property ‘filled with items’ that hadn’t been thrown away for years.
George said: ‘I took one load of bin bags and rubbish to the tip and when they scanned it they said I couldn’t leave it here because it was radioactive.
‘I don’t even remember what was in them there was so much rubbish. I didn’t know what to do, but I had to go back to the house.’
A Met Police spokesperson said: ‘We were called after a person found an item they believed contained a harmful/chemical substance – it was checked and found to be safe.
‘No further action.’