A 200m exclusion zone was imposed at Customs House Quay in Weymouth on Saturday while authorities determined the danger posed by part of a World War II torpedo brought in by a fisherman.

After a 43 minute examination, Dorset police said a Naval bomb disposal unit from Plymouth had confirmed it was part of the motor system of a World War II British torpedo and posed no explosive hazard. It is now to be disposed of by the Weymouth harbour master.

WWII explosives still pose a serious hazard all over Europe. An allied bomb exploded under a bulldozer on a German highway last monday killing a roadworker and damaging more than 30 passing cars.

In 2004, a bomb was exposed during road works near the main station in the eastern city of Leipzig and earlier this month 26,000 people were evacuated in Hannover, in the north, while three massive bombs were dismantled.