One of Kent's biggest shopping centres was evacuated this morning in a pre-planned drill.

Alarms started going off in several stores in Whitefriars, Canterbury, and people were told to get out.

One shopper told KentOnline: "I was in Sports Direct at the till waiting to pay and the alarm started going off.

"The girl at the till, her radio went off. She asked, 'What should we do?'

"And the reply was, 'Get everybody out now.'

"We got outside and realised the alarms were going off in every shop and people were leaving.

"We just decided to go then."

But workers at Sports Direct and Sunglasses Hut told our reporter at the scene the evacuation was a pre-planned drill.

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury