ARMED police hit the streets of Alton on Christmas Eve following reports of a gun on the seat of an unmanned transit van. The van had been blocking the access to a farm off the A339 Alton to Basingstoke road. Having been alerted by the farmer at 10.40am, police, armed officers and the dog unit were dispatched to deal with the incident. In the meantime, the owner of the van had returned and driven away. Police traced the owner to an address close to where the vehicle was later found in Borovere Lane, not far from its junction with Butts Road. Response vehicles raced to the scene, horns blaring, blue lights flashing, but were then forced to play a waiting game until the driver was located and returned to his vehicle. The picture, taken at around 11.30am by passing dog walker, David Quick, shows an armed officer and his colleagues keeping guard over the white van. According to a police spokesman, due to the nature of the call out and because a weapon was involved, it had been necessary to take full precautions and respond at the highest level by activating the armed response team. The driver of the van was later able to confirm that the gun was in fact a starter pistol used for training dogs. He was given police advice on future storage of the weapon.
