A Chelmsford motorist who spotted what appeared to be a hand grenade on the southbound A130 this morning has described how his "heart was racing" as he drove past it.
But, after experts from the Colchester Army Barracks were called, one officer spotted that the object wasn't even a dud hand grenade – it was an imitation.
Online insurance director James Wilson, who was travelling from Chelmsford to work in South Benfleet, said: "As I drove up to the A130 roundabout, I thought there had been an accident, because I saw two officers standing by the kerb.
"It was quite confusing because as I drove past, I didn't see any commotion, just two officers. When I looked closer, I thought I saw a hand grenade. I was totally shocked.
"I was really nervous because I was extremely close to it; the officers were really close, too. My heart was racing; it felt like a dodgy situation."
Mr Wilson, 27, said he had to wait until he got to work at Surewise to discover the threat wasn't as real as he'd imagined. Police confirmed it was a toy around one hour later. The roads were later opened at 9am.
"The first thing I did when I got to work was check Twitter. At first, I couldn't find anything and then an hour later I tried again and it was full of speculation about a hand grenade.
A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed that the device was in fact a toy, which will now be destroyed.
Mr Wilson added; "I was 99.9 per cent sure a grenade was what I had seen. I had action men when I was a kid so I know roughly what they look like.
"I was thinking whether it was some sort of ridiculous prank, but I was relieved when I heard it wasn't real. I made a joke on Facebook asking whoever left their grenade on the side of the A130 to come and collect it."
