Croydon police are urging people to remain vigilant following last Thursday's terrorist attacks in London.

Parts of the town centre were sealed off after reports of suspect packages at East Croydon station and HSBC bank's offices, just hours after seven bomb blasts ripped through Tube carriages and a bus in the capital.

Train services through East and West Croydon stopped and both stations were closed leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Tram and bus services through central Croydon were also disrupted after the town centre was brought to a standstill, offices along Wellesley Road were evacuated following the security alerts and the Dingwall Avenue and Bishopscourt entrances to the Whitgift Centre were closed.

Chief Inspector David Clayton said an increase in reports of suspect packages is common following an incident of this nature adding: "It's not that they are hoaxes, but rather that people are more vigilant and we want to encourage people to continue with their vigilance. We are expecting more reports of this nature."

Both packages were examined by specialist police officers and declared safe.

Train services resumed shortly after 2pm after East and West Croydon stations were reopened and all roads in central Croydon were open by 2.30pm once the cordons had been removed.

Mayday Hospital was on red alert and emergency beds made available.

In the centre of town shops remained open although it was quiet. Only in electrical stores were there small crowds of people watching the news.

Darren Tickle, 37, owner of Visions in the Whitgift Centre, said: "We had about 15-20 people at any one time in the shop and around 20 people outside watching what was happening. It was quite hard to concentrate during the day because we saw everything as it happened on the televisions.

"I had the news on the whole day so I had people coming in and asking me things like how many have died."