THE Army owned up to a 40-year-old blunder yesterday - after workmen restoring a bridge made an alarming discovery.

Three pieces of plastic explosive were found attached to the 134-year-old structure at Myton-on-Swale, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.

A bomb disposal team quickly established that the explosives were of the "inert drill" variety and totally harmless without a specialist detonator.

But the Army admitted that the foil-wrapped explosive had probably been there since a training exercise in the early 1960s.

Although the bridleway bridge has been closed for three years because of its general condition, it had previously been regularly used by local people.

Workman Gary Turner, from Consett, County Durham, made the find as he removed casings that had been placed on the bridge in the early stages of the Second World War.

If the Germans had invaded, the casings could have been filled with explosives to blow the bridge to slow the enemy advance.

"There were three pieces inside one of the casings," said Gary.

"We called the police and they got the bomb squad out here. It was a bit of a shock to find it, to say the least."

An Army spokesman said: "Obviously someone must have forgotten to pick it up when the exercise ended, but it would never have caused any damage."