A HOAX caller who issued a bomb threat at a community centre on one of its busiest nights of the week was today slammed for a 'dirty trick'.

Police went to the recently-opened Green Lane Community Centre, Blackburn, at around 4.50pm yesterday after receiving a phone call saying there was a bomb in the cloakroom.

Although it was believed the call was a malicious call, safety procedures had still to be followed to secure the site and evacuate the people inside.

Inspector Steve Haworth said: "It turned out to be a malicious call from someone who was obviously trying to wreck proceedings at the community centre.

"Green Lane Community Centre has been a great asset to the community and they had a big youth night on and someone was out to disrupt it. It is a dirty trick to play.

"The call at 4.40pm said there was a bomb in a specific place in the centre which would go off in three hours. We searched the premises and made sure it was safe and they were able to carry out their event.

"We have to assess the call to begin with and then assess the site and information given. Then we inform the owner of the site.

"We leave the evacuation to them and offer search advice and assistance. We did not find anything suspicious inside the building or outside."

The centre caters for up to 200 people on a Tuesday night, including two youth sessions and three dance classes starting at 5.30pm, as well as all the parents waiting in the cafe, 60 people using the centre for football training and the nursery.

Community development assistant Chrissy Stuttard, said: "Luckily, it was quite quiet when we got the call because the nursery was finishing and the other groups hadn't arrived. We usually have three youth groups in before 5.30pm as well but two of them weren't on this week so there were a couple of children left in the nursery, three staff, a group of 21 five to nine-year-olds and three kitchen staff.

"I got the phone call from the police saying someone had made a 999 call about a bomb in the cloakroom at the centre. It seemed strange because we don't have a designated cloakroom.

"I went and told my staff and informed the nursery staff and told them all not to panic.

"I knew we weren't supposed to leave the building until the police arrived in case a bomb went off outside, so we got all the children ready as we would in a fire drill so they were ready to go when told to.

"The police made a 15 minute search of the building and then checked outside too in the bins and around the perimeter and we were allowed back in.

"It is a brand new building so we are very security conscious.

"There are never any windows or cupboards left open so we knew no-one had been in.

"We've also got CCTV outside and the police said it was very good security.

"It seems it was just someone playing a joke, who might have known it was a busy night."