People moved in garage bomb alert

A number of families living in west Belfast were forced to leave their homes on Tuesday after a suspicious object was found at a petrol garage.

Part of the Falls Road between Broadway and Donegall Road was closed off during the alert which started about 2200 BST.

Many families were able to stay with relatives and others were told they could stay in a nearby church hall.

Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on the object. It was later declared a hoax.

The people closest to the garage where the device was found live on Islandbawn Drive, off the Falls Road.

Martin Turner, who got back into his home on the street at about 0230 BST, said it was very distressing.

"I only got about three hours sleep," he said.

"I just hope trouble doesn't start again, people don't really want it.

"People were not happy about having to get out of their homes. There was a bomb scare earlier on in the day, about five o'clock, when I was coming home from work.

"Then I got a knock at the door about midnight from a policeman who told me to get out."

A police spokesman said the object had been declared a hoax at about 0215 BST.