Shoppers on high alert during bomb scare in town centre

8:26am Friday 5th August 2005

A BOMB scare at the Octagon Centre in High Wycombe turned out to be nothing more than a small fire.

Shoppers were evacuated from the centre at 11.40am on Friday, July 29, as rumours of a suspect package circulated.

The real cause of the emergency was an electrical fault at Littlewoods in the centre.

Faulty wiring had caused an air-conditioning unit to smoke.

Two fire engines and four police officers were called to the scene as the store shut down.

Station officer Dean Elliot, from High Wycombe Fire Station, told Midweek: "Staff noticed an electrical smell in part of the store and set off the alarm.

"All the alarms are linked in the shopping centre.

"That's why everybody was evacuated.

"We used a thermal imaging camera to find where the burning was coming from.

"We isolated it and vented the building."

Staff were let back into the building first about an hour before shoppers could re-enter the store.

Clare Reynolds, a shopper who had been in the complex, said: "In this current climate they were right to do this.

"Everyone has been very professional.

"No one has been complaining."