A Labour MP sparked a police operation at the party conference – after he mistook a car backfiring for GUNSHOTS.
Police scrambled after shadow health minister Jamie Reed tweeted: “Gunshots in the underground car park at Brighton Marina. Not a gag…”
But officers found nothing suspicious and say it is “possible that it was a car backfiring”.
Mr Reed, who is an MP for Copeland, Cumbria, has since accepted the noises could have been fireworks or a car backfiring.
He has nearly 13,000 followers on Twitter and his initial tweet shortly before 9pm on September 22 was re-tweeted 25 times and prompted calls to the police.
A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: “Police investigated a report of what sounded to be shots being fired at the Brighton Marina car park.
“This followed a tweet stating this just before 9pm on September 22.
“Officers searched the area and nothing untoward was found. It is possible that it was a car backfiring or there is another innocent explanation. Nothing was found untoward.”
A Labour Party source said: “It was not a joke. He did not mean to cause alarm and he was sorry if anybody was upset.”
Mr Reed has confirmed that he did not dial 999, but did believe there were gunshots being fired.
He later accepted these noises could have been fireworks or a car backfiring.
