On Thursday, a cleaner in Hammersmith, West London, called the police after they found bags of trash they claimed were ‘radioactive’. The trash belonged to elderly ‘hoarders’ and had been found by the cleaners while they were clearing out the place.
After the emergency services arrived, police officers made the decision that residents in the nearby area must evacuate their homes for safety.
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The London street was closed off
After being called for the bags of toxic waste, specialist police officers ordered residents in the area to evacuate and warned others from entering the street.
The roadblock stopped some from getting home but it was mandated until the place was deemed safe.
Cleaners had been hired to tidy up the place
The semi-detached council house in Bentworth Road, Hammersmith had to be emptied and thus two cleaners working for a private company were hired to do so.
After emptying the house, the two showed bags of items to a scrap dealer who claimed that they were radioactive.
The property belonged to an elderly couple
George, one of the cleaners, was interviewed by the Metro when he told them that an elderly couple lived at the house, with a 90-year-old woman who had passed away.
She left behind a male occupant who now lives in a care home.
The cleaner believes the couple were hoarders
In his statement, George added that he believed the two “hadn’t thrown anything away in years” and that they were “serious hoarders.”
The cleaner also said that every room in the house was “filled with items” which they had to empty out.
George relayed his side of the story
Explaining how he and his colleague believed the bags were toxic, George said, “I took one load of bin bags and rubbish to the tip and when they scanned it they said I couldn’t leave it here because it was radioactive.”
The cleaners didn’t say what was in the bags
George went on to explain how they found out, “They scanned it in the scrapyard, and anything that goes through it and beeps they don’t let you take in.”
The pair claimed they couldn’t remember what was in the bags as they were mostly filled with trash.
A neighbor reiterated that the couple were hoarders
One person living on the street said that the elderly occupants were “really old” and had both been “serious hoarders.”
The neighbor said, “They were very nice people; they were serious hoarders. Their place is just full you can’t even move in their place.”
The woman who lived at the house passed away
“They were both really old. The old lady passed away last Christmas and he has been in a home for a few months now,” the neighbor also told the Metro.
They added, “Nobody else was living there, I think they must have had their whole life in that house, and it looked like they never threw anything away.”
Specialist officers were called to the scene
As the issue involved toxic material, officers trained to handle radiation, chemical, biological and nuclear situations arrived at the house and they quickly began checking the material in the bags.
The place was only 100 yards away from Ark Bentworth Primary Academy.
The Met Police declared it wasn’t toxic
While they found an old antique item that is believed to date back to WWII and held a small amount of radium, it wasn’t dangerous.
The place was then declared safe with a Met Police spokesperson saying, “We were called after a person found an item they believed contained a harmful/chemical substance – it was checked and found to be safe.”
