Almost a thousand people were evacuated from city centre offices today after a suspect package was found at United House, Piccadilly.

Police were called to the offices of the Crown Prosecution Service in United House and asked for around 150 staff to be evacuated from the building.

Officers later cordoned off the street and ordered hundreds more workers out of nearby Ryedale House and the district tax offices.

Police officers were also diverting traffic from nearby streets.

The Army Bomb Disposal Unit was called to the scene and workers and passers-by were ordered back behind police cordons.

Bus have been diverted around the incident and even Dave Dee's Banana Warehouse, a good 300 yards away from United House, was forced to close temporarily.

Hundreds of concerned workers were standing by and watching.

Supt John Lacy of York police said the police had to be vigilant in the wake of recent nailbomb attacks in the north of England, including one in which a Ripon farmer was slightly hurt.

He said: "Just before 9am officers were called to United House regarding a suspect package.

"In York and North Yorkshire the rural community is on high alert and we are taking this incident very seriously.

"Officers have concerns over the contents of the package and have taken the decision to evacuate the area.

"Packages of this nature can maim and disfigure which is why we have taken this decision."

He added that they were not sure of the origin of the package.

Staff at United House were not prepared to comment but a spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service in London said she had been told police had cordoned off the area because of a suspect package.

This is the second incident in which city centre workers have had to be evacuated this week.

On Monday shop workers were ordered from stores in Coney Street after a package was left at a mobile phone shop. This later proved a false alarm.

* The alert at United House just after 11 am, when army bomb disposal experts discovered the suspect package was "nothing untoward", said a police spokesman.

The hundreds of workers were swiftly allowed back to work.

Updated: 11:42 Thursday, January 11, 2001