Shoppers at Salford Shopping Centre on Salford precinct were briefly panicked this afternoon after a routine testing triggered a false alarm.
At around noon today, Tuesday 20 August, customers heard over the centre’s public address system a request to leave the shopping centre.
According to one shopper, called Helen, customers were told to leave the shopping centre “immediately” and that this was an “emergency situation”.
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It is understood that the false alarm originated from the centre’s William Hill bookmakers.
Salford Shopping Centre Manager, Sabri Marsaoui, told SalfordOnline.com that the centre was not evacuated, adding: “It was a false alarm triggered by routine testing in one of the tenant’s units.
“The tannoy is an automatic messaging system which was triggered by the false alarm.
“As soon as it was confirmed by our security team as a test, a further message was relayed over the tannoy confirming as such and that no further action was required.
“This whole process was rectified in a matter of seconds and therefore didn’t affect trading.”
The shopping centre is now open as normal.
