Published: Friday, 4th July, 2008 10:00
Chemical spill forces hotel evacuation
By Adam Hewitt
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Pic by: Adam Hewitt
A CHEMICAL spill at a busy hotel led to a full-scale evacuation this morning.
Guests and staff at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Richfield Avenue were told to get out of the building at around 8.20am while fire crews in chemical hazard suits investigated.
The spillage was thought to have been two or three litres of a bleach-based pool cleaner.
Staff and guests, many still in their pyjamas, were still stood watching at 9.30am, while the nearby BP petrol station did a roaring trade in coffee and sandwiches.
One guest, Steve Horner, was like many staying in Reading for the Henley Regatta.
He said: “It sounds like a bit of a storm in a teacup if that’s all it was, some pool cleaner. They evacuated the whole hotel just after 8am, we’ve been stood out here for more than an hour already and that fire alarm hasn’t stopped ringing.
“It's not doing a thing for my hangover.”
One fireman said: “It certainly shouldn’t take much longer, we're not expecting to be here all day.”
Fire service spokeswoman Ellie Gray said: “At 8.20am it was reported that there had been a chemical spillage in the pool area, a substance used to clean the pool. The building was evacuated and crews from Caversham Road and Dee Road, and the chemical incident unit from Whitley Wood, dealt with the incident.”
Ambulance crews and police stood by as a precaution, but nobody was hurt.
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