SHOPPERS were evacuated from the Dockside Factory Outlet Centre in Chatham Maritime today after building workers dug up what was initially thought to be an unexploded torpedo.

An Army bomb disposal squad was called in but the object turn out to be an old gas cylinder.

The alert unfolded when the the discovery was made by workers constructing a block of flats next to the shopping centre.

Police were called to Chatham Maritime at about 10.30am. The building site and shopping centre were immediately evacuated as a safety precaution.

Chatham Maritime is built on the site of the former Chatham Dockyard, which at one time was a submarine base.