“No vehicles are being allowed past the inner ring road into the city centre, and there have also been reports of controlled explosions by police.”

Fingers crossed for the Brummies, eh?

Update (23:30): BBC now reporting that 20,000 people have been evacuated.

Update 2: A Brum blog reports calm, just 10 minutes from Broad Street, the heart of the scare – but no updates for a while. Last entry at 22:45 – “no panic really – just disappointed Friday night revellers and disgruntled (but safe) Brummies.” Let’s hope so.

Scribbles is investigating…

Update 3: West Midlands police statement:

“The bomb disposal squad has carried out 4 controlled explosions on a bus in Corporation Street, near the Square Pegg public house. This turned out to be a false call. The bomb disposal squad are however, still investigating another suspicious package in the Broad Street area.

“We would stress that there is nothing to suggest that this intelligence is connected with the incidents in London.”

Sunday update: Scribbles reports back – and check the comments to this post for some interesting rumour and speculation. Seems an odd one, last night…