28 April 2012 Last updated at 11:24 ET

Tottenham Court Road 'bomb threat' suspect questioned

Hundreds of people were forced to leave the area

Police are continuing to question a 48-year-old man after parts of central London were evacuated amid reports of a bomb threat.

Police were called on Friday after computer equipment and office furniture was thrown from the fifth floor of a building on Tottenham Court Road.

There were reports of hostages but none were found at the time the arrest.

The suspect had a grievance against a company and they had concerns he had flammable liquids, police said.

He is said to have stormed Advantage Training Services, a company which offers HGV courses, the Met explained.

'Life threatening'

In a video posted on YouTube by the Huffington Post UK news website, which is based in a nearby office, Abby Baafi, 27, who works at the HGV company, said: "I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers.

"He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office."

A filing cabinet was among the objects thrown from the building

Ben Dunn, who works in a building opposite, told the BBC: "The people who were throwing things out of the window were shouting, 'We are being forced to do this'."

Scotland Yard put a 1,000ft cordon in place resulting in hundreds of office workers in surrounding buildings being told to leave.

The whole of Tottenham Court Road was closed and Goodge Street and Warren Street Tube stations were closed as a precaution.

Metropolitan Police Commander Adrian Hanstock said: "This was a potentially life threatening matter owing to our concerns that a suspect had in their possession flammable liquids and other dangerous articles.

"The Met was able to quickly draw together expertise from across the emergency services to deal with the incident making use of specially trained personnel working to tried and tested procedures."