TOWN centre traders fear Newport could be reduced to a pre-Christmas ghost town after two bomb scares in four days.

A suspect package was received by the Passport Office at 11am yesterday - and brought the town centre to a standstill for more than two hours.

Offices and shops were evacuated and the areas of Dock Street, Skinner Street and Corn Street cordoned off by police.

A bomb squad was called in from Hereford to investigate. The team took 20 minutes to make sure the package was safe. Police later revealed the package was a scanning device.

That incident follows the evacuation of Bridge Street on Monday morning after what turned out to be a practice mortar round - without any explosive - was found outside The Lamb pub.

In that incident, the area was sealed off for nearly three hours while the practice round was examined before experts confirmed it was safe. Police are still trying to discover why it was left on a busy town centre street on Monday.

Inspector Colin Jones told the Argus: "There has been no information to suggest these two incidents are related."

But traders say that while the packages in both incidents proved safe, the chaos and confusion they have caused is very real.

Malcolm Hall, director of the Newport Centre Partnership, said the incidents could cost traders tens of thousands of pounds.

And he warned they could damage shoppers' confidence in visiting Newport in the run up to Christmas.

He told the Argus: "The safety of shoppers and retail staff is of paramount importance and obviously we cannot treat lightly any suspicious packages.

"Christmas is very important for retailers - it's when a lot of them balance the books so these are the crucial days. Thousands of pounds are at stake."

Peter McClure, Boots manager and chairman of the town centre partnership, said: "These two scares will encourage extra vigilance.

"I'm unaware that there is any policy across the town to deal with these incidents but most retailers will have their own guidelines."

Gwent Police chiefs do not plan to increase security in the town centre.

* In the picture: Dock Street, Newport, yesterday during the bomb scare.