FACTORY workers in Birmingham have been told that for the past 40 years they have been using an unexploded World War One bomb as a doorstop. Police were called to a break in at the factory near the city centre, where an eagle-eyed officer spotted the potentially lethal shell and immediately raised the alarm.

Owner of the car accessories manufacturing company, Graham Chidlow, said that he had called police at 8am following a break in. He said: "We've been at this factory since 1964 and the bomb itself was here when we arrived. As such the bomb had been used as a doorstop. I had no idea what it was.

"It used to prop open the office door and it wasn't until the arrival of the police that I realised how serious it might be."

After an X-ray of the bomb, an expert revealed the 15llb World War One Carrier Shell was no longer dangerous. It was removed to be destroyed.