Baked potato sparks fire fear at Northampton shopping centre
A baked potato, wrapped in tin foil and placed in the microwave, was the cause of a Northampton shopping centre being evacuated today.
Weston Favell Shopping Centre was evacuated at about 1.30pm after customers and staff heard a message over the Tannoy system warning them there had been an 'incident'.
A spokeswoman for Weston Favell Shopping Centre confirmed that, in fact, someone had put a jacket potato in a microwave while wrapped in tin foil.
The centre was subsequently evacuated as a precaution after the fire alarm was set off.
The alarm was believed to have been triggered in the budget store Savers.
A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said: "Fire service are aware of it and understand it to be a false alarm."
One witness said: "I was having a coffee in Costa when all of a sudden the alarms started ringing and they kicked us all out."
The shopping centre is now welcoming people back into the building.