A CAR fire led to the evacuation of part of Festival Place today.

Fire crews were called to the shopping centre just after 12.30pm this afternoon, to a report of a car being “well alight” in the B2 zone of the car park.

The fire, in a parked Renault Clio, centred on the car’s engine, and caused smoke-logging on that floor of the car park.

An area of the shopping centre, by Marks and Spencer, was evacuated.

Some shoppers were not allowed back to their cars while the firefighters from Basingstoke fire station tried to clear smoke from the car park.

No other cars were damaged in the blaze. The fire is not thought to have been started deliberately.

Some shoppers took to Twitter to complain that they were not being allowed back to their cars.