Hundreds of shoppers were evacuated from Westgate Oxford when an alarm went off yesterday evening (Monday, October 23).
Visitors were kept outside the shopping centre for an hour, with many gathering in Bonn Square, before finally being allowed back in.
Some were left confused by the events, with one woman telling the Oxford Mail that “nothing was told about what happened.”
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The alarm, which was set off at 6.15pm, was caused by a faulty heat detector, a Westgate spokeswoman confirmed.
“The evacuation happened as a precaution while it was checked out whether it was ok for people to be let back in,” she said.
“People were kept outside while we determined whether there was anything wrong.”
The Westgate team found there was no fire and that the alarm had malfunctioned.
The spokeswoman would not comment on where the alarm was in the shopping centre.
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