Shortly before 11:00 this morning, Monday 3rd April 2023, Thames Valley Police put a “cordon in place” on Broad Street after receiving reports of “a device” that aroused suspicion, reported by the Oxford Mail as a “bomb scare”.
Thames Valley Police have now confirmed, following a search which involved a “specialist dog unit”, that no device was located and have consequently lifted the cordon.
Images from the Oxford Martin School webcam showed police officers isolating and surrounding a red double-decker bus directly between the Weston Library and the Sheldonian Theatre. One Oxford student present this morning observed a “heightened police presence”.
The apparent bomb threat also led to evacuations throughout central Oxford.
Bodleian Libraries advised the public to “avoid” the city centre and announced at 11:00 that “due to circumstances beyond our control, the Old Bodleian Library and Weston Library are currently closed”. Both buildings were reopened at 12:09.
At 11:10, Blackwell’s tweeted that its location at 48 to 51 Broad Street and Blackwell’s Science Fiction were “closed” also on account of the “police cordon”. The shops were reopened less than an hour later at 12:02.
The incident has now ended without discovery of any device.