A FARNWORTH street was sealed off for almost three hours last night after a man dropped a jar of poisonous mercury.

Craig Grimshaw had found the mercury in his house on Frederick Court, off Topp Street. But as he carried it outside to throw it away he dropped it on the pavement close to Seddons Seedfeeds and it smashed releasing the dangerous metallic liquid.

And today, Craig's partner Sam Collier, aged 25, revealed how the mercury had been in a cupboard for two years and she thought it was gold polish.

After a friend of Mr Grimshaw's said it might be mercury, he decided to take it to a nearby skip -- but dropped it on the way.

Mrs Collier said: "Craig came in and rang the fire Brigade straight away. Then we went back out to have a look. It had rolled all over the pavement and I said -- 'that's definitely not gold cleaner'.

Shocked

"It was silver and covered the road. I was shocked when the firefighters told us what it was and they sealed off the road. My eight-year-old son, Lewis, had been trying to pick it up and play with it while it'd been in the cupboard. If he'd have got the lid off and put his hands in it, it could have killed him."

Firefighters from Farnworth Fire Station arrived at the scene at 9.15pm and cordoned off part of the street.

Sub Officer Wayne Guffogg said: "Mercury is dangerous because it absorbs through the skin and can poison the blood stream so we needed to seal off the area to make sure no one touched it."

Firefighters alerted Environment Agency officials who sent out a team of specialists.

They used special equipment to clean up the mercury. It was stored in a container and taken away for disposal. The street was reopened at midnight.