Chilli sauce closes part of Birmingham city centre for hours

Firefighters and supermarket bosses were left with a red-hot problem – over the cause of a suspected chemical alert which left part of Birmingham city centre sealed off. Residents and workers were evacuated when the Tesco Metro store in New Street was shut down after six workers complained of headaches caused by a powerful smell.

But while Tesco officials blamed the alert on a leakage of cleaning products, West Midlands Fire Service put the alert down to broken bottles of chilli cooking oil. A number of shops including Oasis, Starbucks and the Burlington Arcade, were closed between 7.30am and 10am yesterday while emergency services investigated.



Residents in flats above the Tesco store were also evacuated as West Midlands Police sealed off the area as a precaution. Fire service spokesman Jeremy Sharpe said: “We conducted a thorough search of the premises and the smell we found was consistent with a chilli cooking oil.”

And Group Commander Nigel Sowden, of West Midlands Fire Service, said: “Half a litre of food stuffs had smashed on the floor near the checkout. What we turned out to was a suspected chemical spillage and we had to put the correct procedures in place as a precaution.”