Shoppers in Shoebury were evacuated from the Asda store for 20 minutes because staff feared there would be an explosion.
But their concern soon subsided as firefighters reported it was a false alarm.
When alarms started going off at the store in North Shoebury Road at about 2pm yesterday, customers were told to exit the store quickly and left their trolleys in the aisles.
Staff, who suspected a generator was overheating and could explode, made sure they were well away from the building.
Firefighters arrived within minutes. After a short interval they deemed it safe to let everyone return to the store.
A store spokesman said: "The evacuation turned out to be a false alarm. Everyone was evacuated as a precaution, but once the firefighters arrived and said it was okay they were allowed back in."
Published Wednesday July 21, 2004
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