Police cordoned off part of Hammersmith in west London briefly on Wednesday evening following reports of a "suspicious package" that later proved to be a false alarm.

Officers were called to the scene near Hammersmith Broadway at about 6pm.

One Twitter user said roads surrounding the Broadway had been sealed off by police and pedestrians were being turned back.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Independent officers were at the scene assessing the package.

Police later reopened the area and said the item, a bag, was not suspicious.

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Bayswater underground station was also closed a short while later and trains were not stopping while a "police investigation" was carried out.

A British Transport Police spokeswoman told The Independent officers were called to investigate after a bag was thrown from a train at the station.

Police confirmed it was not suspicious and the station was reopened about 20 minutes later.

(Charlotte Hodges (Charlotte Hodges)

It comes after Glasgow University was evacuated on Wednesday over a suspicious package was found in a mailroom.

Police Scotland confirmed it had carried out a controlled explosion on a device sent to the university.

A suspicious package alert was also put out by Parliament's internal information system on Wednesday but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Police responded to the incident at an entrance to the House of Lords as a precaution but later said it was not dangerous.

Parcel bombs were discovered at Heathrow airport, London City airport and Waterloo railway station on Tuesday in what police believe was a coordinated campaign.