One of Shrewsbury town centre’s busiest roads was closed off for nearly two hours after a gas leak alert. Police shut Mardol on Saturday afternoon.

They acted as a precaution following reports there was a strong smell of gas in the area.

The area is close to where 12 people were injured – five seriously – in an explosion in Bridge Street on January 3.

Transco engineers were called and found the smell was being caused by a problem with sewerage drains.

A police spokeswoman said: “We got an initial report at about 1.10pm saying there was a strong smell of gas in the town centre.

“Initially we were told it was in the Dogpole area. Officers attended and could not smell gas and thought it may be the build-up from the catalytic converters on vehicles.

“However, a smell of gas could be smelt around the Mardol area and it was decided to close off Mardol into Claremont Street as a precaution until Transco engineers were able to get to the scene.”

Ilana Devane, of Timothy’s Lighting Shop in Mardol, said: “We noticed it had got quiet, then a customer came in and told us what was going on.

“Quite a crowd of people gathered outside and some were starting to worry, but we weren’t told to leave the shop and luckily it was all over within a couple of hours. The police moved quickly to calm fears after the explosion and everyone kept very calm.”

The police spokeswoman added that engineers returned on Sunday.

“The closure caused traffic problems in the area. Transco arrived and found the smell was coming from the drains,” she said, adding: “There was no gas leak and the fire service did not need to be called. All the roads were fully opened by about 3pm.”