AN ALARM sounded for several minutes at the Dolphin Centre in Poole today due to maintenance work being carried out on the fire alarms.

The false alarm started just after 3pm and was not scheduled in advance.

There was no official evacuation, but several shoppers left the building of their own accord.

Centre Manager John Grinnell said: “There was no fire, the alarm sounded because the engineers were carrying out maintenance work and a mistake was made during routine testing.

“The alarm only sounded for a few minutes and the situation was dealt with swiftly.”