'It was just a false alarm' say Milton Keynes shopping centre bosses after mass evacuation

The mass evacuation of the city shopping centre at lunchtime was just a false alarm, say centre bosses.

Fire alarms sounded shortly after 12.30pm today (Thursday) and a loudspeaker announcement ordered all staff and shoppers to leave immediately.

Emergency services rushed to the scene but within10 minutes the building was declared safe and people were allowed back inside.

Shortly before the evacuation shops had been in darkness due to a power cut. Now shopping centre management have revealed this was the problem.

A spokesperson told the Citizen: “The centre was evacuated very briefly as the fire alarms went off but this was a false alarm that was caused by the power cut.

“All power has now been restored and retailers and restaurants are back open.

“The source of the power cut was external to the centre and other buildings were also affected as well as the traffic lights.”