Bath incident: Woman, 73, arrested on suspicion of ‘administering noxious substance’ in city centre

A 73-year-old woman has been arrested following an incident in Bath during which a number of people reported 'feeling unwell'.

Multiple crews were called to the Stall Street area of the city centre at about 2:30pm on Monday 29 July, with emergency service workers seen in hazmat suits.

The ambulance service were informed a woman in possession of a plastic bag had approached members of the public, who then felt ill.

Avon and Somerset Police officers were called to the scene and a cordon was set up.

The ambulance service took two people to hospital, but only one woman needed admission for breathing difficulties and itchy eyes.

She was checked over and discharged later that evening.

The scene was lifted shortly before 8pm after the area had been checked. Police say no trace of any chemical or hazardous substance was found.

They added that CCTV enquiries were carried out to identify the individual who was in possession of the plastic bag at the time of the incident.

A 73-year-old woman was later arrested on suspicion of administering a potentially harmful substance.

Chief Inspector Scott Hill, of the Bath Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We’d like to thank the public for their patience and understanding while we dealt with an incident in Bath yesterday.

“Public safety is always our top priority and we implemented well-rehearsed plans to ensure this isolated incident was dealt with as swiftly and effectively as possible.

“All emergency services have a duty of care to their staff and so a decision was made to wear protective clothing while there was uncertainty about what we were dealing with.

“Further enquiries will be required to fully understand what caused some people to experience feeling unwell, but to help us progress that work we have made an arrest as we seek to establish whether any offence has been committed.

“We can confirm thorough testing of the surrounding public area was carried out before the cordon was lifted which confirmed there were no traces of any chemical substance.

“We are aware there was speculation on social media yesterday about this and hope confirming this provides reassurance to the public.

"We are not aware of there being any increased risk to the public but officers will be on patrol in the city centre today if anyone wishes to speak with us directly to raise any concerns they may have.”