AN MP has raised questions about the handling of the bomb scare that led to the abandonment of Manchester United and Bournemouth game at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Around 70,000 fans were evacuated from the stadium just before kick-off on May 15 when a dummy pipe bomb was found in a toilet cubicle.

It had been left behind following a security training exercise by Security Search Management and Solutions Ltd, which took place days before the match.

Manchester United offered supporters a free ticket for the rescheduled game on Tuesday or a full refund – but Stretford and Urmston MP Kate Green said that isn’t enough for disappointed fans.

Ms Green promptly wrote to Ed Woodward, executive vice chair of Manchester United FC, calling for fans to be further compensated and also for assurances about security at the club at future matches.

“What’s particular troubling is that the false device apparently remained undetected on the club premises for a number of days and there is considerable concern about the performance of the previous security company involved,” she wrote.

“What steps will be taken to compensate fans for out of pocket expenses in relation to travel, accommodation, etc?”

In response, Ed said: “We believe this is a generous gesture, and one that goes above and beyond the actions of many other event organisers (in both sport and music), where events are re-scheduled due to unforeseen circumstances.

“Once a live situation was identified, the club and police had no option but to treat the matter as a potential terror threat; we could not have assumed it was a training exercise error. Presented with the same situation in the future, we would take the same action.

“With regard to your point about the incident itself, we are conducting a detailed evaluation with the help of the police and will share our findings across the rest of the game. Valuable lessons will have been learned from the events and it is important that those are shared with other stadium operators to ensure that the safety of the public remains the first duty of us all.”