A BRAVE Parliamentary worker was today keen to get back to business as usual after finding herself at the centre of dramatic scenes at MP Mike Wood's office which was the target of a suspicious package containing white powder.
Emergency teams flooded the scene of the Conservative MP's Dudley South constituency office in Wordsley High Street at around 10.45am yesterday (Tuesday) after a suspect parcel arrived from India and white powder spilled out as senior case worker Natalie Neale opened it.
Police, fire and ambulance crews were dispatched to the scene amid fears it may have been a noxious substance such as anthrax and Mr Wood said: "At one point there were about 15 emergency vehicles outside."
Ms Neale, a former nurse and mum-of-three, says she went into "automatic mode" and immediately washed off the powder but she added: "As soon as police came they got me outside and put me in quarantine. I had to get stripped off in the middle of the High Street.
"I'm laughing about it now but at the time it was very scary."
But she said: "If it had been more sinister I would have had a reaction and they'd have had me in hospital.
"I just can't thank the emergency services enough - they did an absolutely amazing job; they were there within minutes - I felt so safe. It's good to know they're there for us."
A spokesman for West Midlands Police later said the powder was not believed to have been harmful but enquiries would continue.
Mr Wood (pictured below at the opening of his office last year) added: "The chances are it was talc or flour."
But he said the parcel, which was badly wrapped, included a "long anti-Islamic rant about the Quran" and he added: "I don’t know whether it was sent to a random MP’s office or whether it was to do with an immigration case we may have worked on."
Mr Wood, who had been at nearby Myles Court in Brierley Hill as part of a volunteering week when the drama unfolded, said it was a "frightening prospect" that a potentially lethal parcel could arrive through the post but he said he didn't want to "lose the accessibility and openness of having a High Street office that people can just come into when they need help".
He added: "I don’t want to sacrifice that."
Ms Neale, a former councillor for Kingswinford North and Wall Heath who has worked for the MP since he was elected in 2015, said she hoped the incident would not lead to "people being scared" to visit the office.
She said - as well as the building having CCTV and a direct line to the emergency services - all staff receive security training so they know how to react in such situations and she calmly said: "I just followed protocol. It could happen to anybody at the end of the day. We have to be vigilant but we're there from 9am to 5pm helping constituents and we don't want them to feel there's any risk.
"It hasn't deterred me from the job I absolutely love."
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