Sunday Mercury editor David Brookes was in demand from the national and international media during the terrorist alert in Birmingham which forced 30,000 people to leave the city centre.

Reporter Fionnuala Bourke was the first journalist on the scene after the paper received an initial tip-off that a suspicious package had been found on a bus in the city centre – just yards from the newspaper building.

Minutes later photographer Darren Quiton captured an exclusive and dramatic picture of a controlled explosion taking place on the vehicle.

As police revealed the city centre was being evacuated because of a 'substantial threat' to the public, the Mercury team worked through the scare to produce a special edition on the drama.

The team on the spot included David Brookes, deputy editor Paul Cole, head of content Tony Larner, and journalists Martyn Leek and Keith Perry.

During the terrorist alert, the Sunday Mercury received calls from as far afield as America and Germany and David Brookes gave live interviews on BBC News 24, Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, CNN and Fox News as the world's media struggled to catch up with the unfolding events.

The special edition of the Trinity Mirror title last weekend proved one of the biggest sellers of the year, with a week-on-week increase of more than eight per cent.