This was the moment a planned demolition took sleeping residents of Hillsborough by surprise after organisers failed to let them know it was going to happen.

^{Footage by Jo Joel via Facebook}

The planned demolition took place at 8am on Sunday 2nd March at Clay Wheels Lane in Hillsborough, Sheffield, and the destruction of four chimneys caused noisy explosions which panicked residents who were unaware of the operation.

Despite this, emergency services were informed of the demolition in advance.

Steven Ross, a Communications Officer for South Yorkshire Police, said: “This was a controlled explosion to demolish chimneys at Clay Wheels Lane, Sheffield.”

He continued: “Officers were not involved. Neighbour Policing Team resources were deployed to the area following the demolition to provide reassurance to residents.”

However, it appears that many residents were not aware of the disruption beforehand.

Luke Robson, who lives on Penistone Road, said: “We had no idea what it was or where it was coming from.

“We thought it may have been an accident at a nearby factory or building site and feared the worst.”

Robson added that there were no advance notices or posts on any of the local social media groups, and that he was thankful that ‘other residents were able to explain what happened’ after he ‘posted straight away’ about the disturbance in a Hillsborough and S6 Facebook group.

As shown in the footage, sirens blared loudly after the explosions and a large dust cloud was visible over the site.

Sharon Lavette, of Dykewood Drive, said: “A warning would have been nice, had my son not actually seen it we would not have known what it was, at first he just thought it was an air raid or something.”

Following reassurance from social media users about the cause of the explosions, Luke Robson left a relieved comment on Facebook.

_{^{Luke Robson via Facebook}}