Hundreds of customers and staff were evacuated from Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer stores at Hedge End, Southampton yesterday, after one of Sainsbury's refrigerator units began leaking refrigerator coolant.
An adjacent Marks and Spencer store was also evacuated as it shares a heating duct with the food shop.
Emergency services were called to the store just after 5pm on Tuesday 17 September, after shoppers complained of feeling unwell at the tills in Sainsbury's.
Four fire engines and 28 emergency team members attended the incident and more than 60 customers and members of staff were examined for symptoms including coughing, difficulty breathing, chest pains and runny eyes and noses.
One person was taken to hospital as a precaution. No-one was seriously affected by the gas leak and the 60-yard store cordon was lifted at around 9pm.
"Last night at around 6pm, our Hedge End store was evacuated, along with the neighbouring M&S store. Following air quality checks, the emergency services confirmed the site safe at 8.25pm," a Sainsbury's spokesperson said.
"We have worked overnight to conduct further tests and have found no cause for concern, so have reopened the store at 7am today."
A spokesman for M&S added, "We were advised by police to evacuate our Hedge End store following the detection of a gas leak in an adjacent store. The store has reopened this morning and is trading as usual."
Earlier this year, Tesco was forced to evacuate one of its eco-friendly naturally refrigerated stores in Newbury.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
