Narrowboater's prank causes full terror alert

A PRANK by the owner of the narrowboat Tiger Moth, moored on the Thames at Reading caused a full terror alert with police and army rushing to intercept it.

The boat had a dummy missile launcher on its roof together with the dummy of a man with his face covered with a balaclava, and was reported to the police, Keith Gudgin tells us.

Boarded

The police alerted the army bomb disposal unit and the boat was boarded with it being searched, but it was then realised that the missile launcher was a dummy as was the man in the balaclava.

It was a prank by the owner with the launcher being purely ornamental, though it looked very real, as did the dummy of the head and shoulders of a man with staring eyes.

It is understood that the authorities were 'not amused'.