Metro

Van left unattended in Times Square for 2 days

The year might really have gone out with a bang.

In an appalling security breach, NYPD officers failed to notice a sinister-looking van illegally parked in plain sight for two days in the heart of Times Square — where hundreds of thousands will gather for New Year’s Eve festivities tonight — red-faced authorities admitted yesterday.

It was only after workers at 7 Times Square spotted the vehicle, which was in a no-parking zone with no license plates, plastic bags over the tinted windows and a bogus police placard in the windshield, that the bomb squad evacuated buildings, cordoned off streets and pored over the van.

After sending a remote-controlled robot into the white 1997 Dodge Ram, authorities determined it contained only knockoff Burberry scarves and a couple of folding tables used by Midtown vendors. But it had enough room to carry hundreds of pounds of explosives.

That such a suspicious vehicle could sit unnoticed for so long, days after the thwarted Christmas terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound plane, sent a chill down the spines of even the most hardened New Yorkers.

“It’s crazy — to me, that’s nuts,” said Ahmed Adam, 27, a financial analyst from Gramercy Park. “Somebody didn’t do their job. It’s very disappointing and it could have been a disaster.”

Law-enforcement officials acknowledged the van had sat on Broadway between 41st and 42nd streets — just a block from the NYPD’s Times Square command post — since around noon on Monday and had not moved.

“There’s no question we should’ve known about it earlier,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today.

Cops are conducting an investigation to try to figure out why it wasn’t discovered earlier, he added.

The vehicle had no plates, a temporary New Jersey registration that had been tampered with, and a parking placard that read, “Detective’s Crime Clinic, Metropolitan New Jersey and New York” in the window. No such agency exists.

Finally, at around 11 a.m. yesterday, authorities responded after a maintenance worker at 7 Times Square alerted building security.

“I first noticed it on Monday but I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was a regular delivery truck,” said John Vaillant, the maintenance supervisor for the building. “One of my workers came up to me today and said, ‘John, this vehicle looks suspicious.’ I saw that all the windows were covered up with thick plastic bags.”

Vaillant said he had spotted numerous traffic agents walking by in the past two days. But even though the van sat in a no-parking zone, it was never ticketed.

“Various times, I saw meter maids bypassing it,” Vaillant said. “I guess they saw the NYPD placard. It looked real, but they need to have more control of those plates. We are not secure anywhere. It’s crazy.”

One source speculated that since traffic agents use handheld computers that are unable to scan temporary registrations, they might have had to write a ticket by hand, a task they might have avoided, particularly in frigid weather.

When the NYPD finally responded, an army of cops ordered the occupants of the Condé Nast Building, the Nasdaq stock exchange and others to leave, and told jittery tourists to clear out.

“I wouldn’t stay here. We’re looking at a van we don’t like,” one officer told pedestrians moments after the call.

At several cafes, patrons ran out clutching their half-eaten sandwiches. Some were told to stay inside, but many — fearful of a terror attack — took matters into their own hands.

After the threat was announced, Suada Velija, 28, fled from her office at 1500 Broadway, despite instructions to stay put.

“They said to stay in the building, but me and my boss got scared and ran all the way up to Central Park,” she said.

By 1 p.m., when investigators had determined there was nothing dangerous in the vehicle, it was towed and a hunt began for its owner, George Fryer, who they said was a street peddler. Fryer had given the keys to a man named Carlos Colon, who came forward to police as they were investigating the vehicle.

Colon, who has a lengthy rap sheet, was taken in for questioning, but investigators were unable to locate Fryer as of late last night. It was unclear if any charges would be filed.

The NYPD — which is preparing to turn Times Square into a fortress manned by 4,000 cops for the New Year’s celebration tonight — downplayed the incident.

“Cars are parked there all the time,” said chief spokesman Paul Browne.

“It’s not as though it was sitting there by itself. After 6 o’clock, there is legal parking, and throughout the day, there are trucks and vehicles that stop to load an unload.”

Mayor Bloomberg was dumbfounded.

“How was a car able to stay there for a few days without cops nearby noticing? I don’t know. We’ll have to talk to the Police Department,” Bloomberg said. “My main concern is that it turned out not to be a threat, and that’s the most important thing.”

“I think what it demonstrates is, Number 1, we take every threat seriously. Thank goodness it was nothing. And, Number 2, what you should do if you see something that is suspicious: Call 911 and we’ll worry about it.”

Bloomberg stressed that tonight’s festivities would be safe.

“I’m going to be here with my family. Yes, absolutely, you’re going to be safe,” he said. “I can’t think of a better place and a safer place to be in the whole world.”

Many who ran for cover during yesterday’s chilling episode said they wondered if the police were on top of things.

“I think we should be on high alert,” said Elizabeth Prya, 34, of New Jersey. “They should have stepped up security after what happened Christmas Day. I’m angry. How could this happen this close to Times Square — so near to New Year’s Eve?”

But Tina Ferguson, 38, who was in town from Peoria, Ill., for the New Year’s celebration, said she’s unfazed. “I think it is a little unsettling, but for a city this size, it’s hard for police to be everywhere,” she said.

Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli, Kevin Fasick, Georgett Roberts and Amber Sutherland

larry.celona@nypost.com