BT says air fresheners are routinely installed in some phone boxes

A suspicious package which led to an RAF parade being cancelled in Lincolnshire, has turned out to be a phone box air freshener.

A bomb disposal team exploded the black BT device, which was spotted in the red telephone box in Market Place, Boston, by a worried member of the public.

A BT spokesman said air fresheners had been installed in enclosed phone boxes for years without problems.

Boston Borough Council is working with the RAF to rearrange the parade.

The BT spokesman said: "We do put air fresheners in some phone boxes - we like to make the environment as pleasant as possible for people using a payphone to make a call.

"Some people have been known to use phone boxes for reasons other than wanting to phone someone.

"We site the air fresheners discreetly so they don't get vandalised."

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said: "We had no idea what it was, it was something we'd never encountered before."