STAFF at the Iceland supermarket in Basingstoke's town centre were evacuated after smoke was spotted inside the building.

On Friday, October 27 Basingstoke, Tadley, Hartley Wintney, Overton and Rushmoor fire crews were called to Festival Place, which had been evacuated shortly after 6am.

A spokesperson from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service confirmed the smoke was caused by two overheated freezers. 

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They said: "HIWFRS handed the incident over to on-site teams to arrange for the appliances to be checked over by an engineer. 

"Crews returned to the station following the stop message at 7:39. "

The store opened as usual.

A spokesperson for the shopping centre added: "We can confirm that the fire service was called to Iceland earlier this morning.

"There was some smoke in the unit which we understand could have been caused by an electrical fault. The unit was checked and the fire service left at around 7:30am."