The smell was noticed on the upper floors of the four-storey building
All four lanes of London Road were initially closed off to traffic after the incident began at about 3pm(Image: Leicester Media Online)
Police and firefighters closed part of London Road in Leicester city centre after a strange smell was noticed in a building.
Leicestershire Police were first on the scene at the building, which has restaurants on the ground floor, and they called in the Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection team from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service at about 3pm on Saturday (February 14).
All lanes of London Road were temporarily closed to traffic near Victoria Park while the building was searched.
At 4.30pm the fire service said in a social media post: “Update to incident on London Road, Leicester. Incident is coming to a close and scaling down, there were no injuries. Road will be open shortly.”
By 5.40pm the road was fully open again and the police cordons were removed.
The hazardous materials team were on the scene(Image: Leicester Media Online)
A spokeswoman for the fire service said today (Sunday, February 15) that a check of the building found nothing dangerous.
The incident follows another call-out for the hazardous materials team on Wednesday (February 11). At about 1pm that afternoon emergency services closed Baxter Gate in Loughborough town centre after concerns about a “hazardous substance” at a restaurant that turned out to be salt.
During the incident, people in nearby buildings were warned to keep their doors and windows closed and stay indoors.
After that incident, Leicestershire Police arrested a 29-year-old man on suspicion of making a hoax call. He has since been released on bail.