ARMED police surrounded a house on a Worcester estate after a knifeman locked himself inside for four hours.

Around 40 officers, some of them heavily armed and with police dogs, were called to the scene in Dines Green yesterday after reports that a man was brandishing a knife.

Children had to be kept in nearby Dines Green Primary School for their own safety, traffic was diverted and hordes of onlookers took to the street to watch the drama unfold.

The man finally walked out of the house in Tudor Way at 5.10pm holding his hands up before several police officers pinned him to the floor and bundled him into a police van.

Police were called to the house just after 1pm after reports of a disturbance.

A police spokesman said paramedics had initially been to the house to give medical assistance to a man, but became concerned when he was seen to be holding "a bladed instrument".

Police called a negotiator, and public order-trained officers were at the scene.

As news of the siege spread, neighbours spill-ed on to the street and children at Dines Green Primary were kept in the building.

At 3.40pm it appeared the man, who was wearing a crash helmet at the time, was going to give himself up when he opened the front door. But he gesticulated angrily at nearby police officers before slamming the door shut.

He surrendered just under two hours later.

"It's a great worry that things like this can happen around here," said one concerned resident. "Most of us are just worried about our children."

Chief Inspector Martin Lakeman, of Worcester police, said the primary objective was to ensure that neither the man nor any member of the public was injured.

"Following four hours of police negotiation and containment the man surrendered himself to the police," he said.

"As a result the incident was brought to a safe end. The man has been arrested and brought to Worcester police station where he will be helping us with our inquiries."

As the Evening News went to press today no one had been charged as a result of the incident.