Bomb squad swoops on road outside BBC's London offices and smash into car sparking mass evacuation … only for staff say it belongs to an employee

Car sparked panic before Portland Place near Oxford Circus station was shut off
'Bomb robot' was deployed to smash the car's windows while police investigated
Operation was stood down and it emerged motor belonged to a BBC employee

Published: 12:19 BST, 28 June 2018 | Updated: 13:30 BST, 28 June 2018

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Bomb experts have closed off a busy London street and evacuated part of the BBC's offices after reports of a suspicious vehicle.

The car - parked near the central reservation - sparked panic with Portland Place, just north of Oxford Circus Tube station, cordoned off.

A 'bomb robot' was deployed to smash the car's windows while police investigated.

But after it was quickly established there was no risk, the operation was stood down and it emerged the motor actually belonged to a BBC employee.

A 'bomb robot' was deployed to smash the car's windows while police investigated

Dramatic pictures from the scene show teams using a bomb robot to investigate the car

Dozens of staff members, who work at an office overlooking the street, took to Twitter to live-tweet the police operation unfolding before them.

Unfortunately for one member of staff, he quickly realised it was his car caught up in the drama - and had to watch as his windows were smashed in one by one.

Chris Hemmings, who works for the Victoria Derbyshire programme, tweeted as the situation developed.

He tweeted pictures of a robot approaching the car where it fired a shot into the passenger's window, writing: 'There's a bomb robot outside the BBC. It's just fired a shot in to a car window and is now inspecting the back seat. Told there may be a controlled explosion carried out.'

But around half an hour later he updated his followers to say: 'So, apparently the car belongs to someone who sits on our floor. All his windows have been smashed in and a guy is now searching it.'