Peter Kay was back on stage on Saturday night one day after one of his shows was halted over a bomb hoax. <\/p>\n
The comedian returned to the 15,000 capacity Utilita Arena in Birmingham as West Midlands Police confirmed on Saturday evening that a teenager had been charged over the incident the night before. <\/p>\n
Omar Majed, 19, of Washwood Heath, Birmingham, has been charged with false communications relating to a bomb hoax and is due to appear before magistrates on May 4, the force said. <\/p>\n
Kay’s show had been halted after a \u201cpotential suspicious bag\u201d was found, and the venue was searched, although police later said that “no items of a suspicious nature were found” after the Utilita Arena was evacuated. <\/p>\n
Police say they have arrested a 19-year-old man Credit: PA\/Handout<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re grateful to everyone for their co-operation and understanding. As always our priority is the safety of the public,” West Midlands Police added. <\/p>\n
In a statement on Saturday morning, the Utilita Area said that Peter Kay’s performance on Saturday night would “go ahead as planned”.<\/p>\n
“Our security measures include several overt and covert security measures, so whilst you may not see all operational security activity, you should be assured that it is ongoing.”<\/p>\n
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter <\/a>for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n Witnesses said two members of staff came onto the stage about 45 minutes into the performance, whispered into Kay\u2019s ear, and then escorted him away.<\/p>\n Steve Aspinall, who was at the gig with his wife, said the audience was told to look for security guards and listen out for any announcements.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, I thought it was part of the show at first,\u201d he told the Press Association. <\/p>\n “It was a strange atmosphere, eerie, just confused really (about) what was happening. But it was alright and everyone was calm and left quite quickly with no panic.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, the UK’s terror threat level was raised to “severe”<\/a> meaning a terror attack is “highly likely”.<\/p>\n The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre announced the decision on Thursday, a day after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London and in the wake of several attacks in Jewish neighbourhoods<\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n The body, which is based in MI5 but makes independent assessments, previously set the threat level at \u201csubstantial\u201d, meaning an attack was \u201clikely\u201d.<\/p>\n