A 43-year-old man has been charged with a bomb hoax outside the US embassy in London.

Daniel Parmenter, of Kildare Terrace, Bayswater, west London, appeared at Ealing Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

Police were called to reports of a suspicious package at the embassy in Nine Elms, south-west London, at 8.40am on Friday and a controlled explosion was carried out.

Parmenter was arrested on Sunday and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on December 23.

The Metropolitan Police said there is no link between the alleged hoax and a number of other bomb scares in recent days.

There was travel disruption at Gatwick Airport when the south terminal was closed to new passengers for four hours on Friday.

Sussex Police deployed its bomb disposal unit because of “the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage”.

Later the force said the package had been made safe, and two people who were detained were allowed to carry on with their journeys.

There were also security alerts at a bus station in Glasgow, Euston railway station and Chester bus station.