About 100 shoppers had to leave a Shropshire supermarket when it was evacuated after a fire broke out at a cash machine outside the store.

A member of the public alerted staff at Sainsbury’s at the Telford Forge Retail Park, Colliers Way, Old Park, after they saw smoke coming out of an ATM outside the store last night.

Quick-thinking staff evacuated the building and used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, which began in a gap below the machine and led to smoke coming into a room in the supermarket itself behind the machine.

It is thought the fire involved a collection of receipts in the gap, but it is not clear how it began.

Store duty manager Ric- hard Kirby said: “A member of the public alerted us to say they could see smoke coming out of the ATM. The smoke came into the ATM room at the back of the ATM.

“We investigated and evacuated. Everything is fine and the ATM is working. We would like to thank the member of the public for alerting us to the situation.

“I was also really pleased with how my colleagues in the store managed themselves and that the evacuation went smoothly and everyone is safe.”

A fire crew from Telford, another from Wellington and the incident commander from Shrewsbury were called to the supermarket, which has three cash machines, at about 7.20pm.

But they only needed to inspect the cash machine to ensure it was safe as the fire was out when they arrived.

Ed Sullivan, watch manager at Telford Central, said: “It was a small amount of rubbish that had caught fire beneath the ATM. The staff acted quickly and managed to put out the fire.”

He said there was no problem with the cash machine and the cause of the fire was not being investigated.