THE video game box responsible for Friday's Swindon town centre bomb scare has been withdrawn from shelves.

Parts of the town centre were sealed off for three hours when a suspect package resembling an ammunition container was reported near the Octagon cafe, outside one of Zurich's Tricentre buildings in New Bridge Square.

Police, on alert following the arrest of a suspected al Qaida-linked terrorist in Gloucester, set up a 200 metre cordon around the area and evacuated 2,000 workers.

An Army bomb-disposal team was called and carried out a controlled explosion. It was later revealed the box was being given away as a free gift when customers bought the newly released sequel to the World War II game Medal of Honour from computer store Game in Regent Street.

Company spokesman Simon Soffe, said: "The store manager has made the decision to take them off the shelves because of the hassle they caused."

Mr Soffe added however, that the nationwide chain would continue to give them away in other stores.

He said: "We do a lot of promotions and we do not see why we should disappoint our customers elsewhere in the UK, because of one incident, which was possibly a hoax."

Police have said they are keeping an open min as to whether the incident was intended to be a hoax.