MAIDSTONE Hospital's A&E department re-opened today after a chemical scare which turned out to be groundless.

The drama began at about 11.30pm last night when a disorientated man in his 30s, found wandering along Lees Road, Yalding, said he was suffering from a tingling sensation in his hands.

He said that he may have come into contact with chemicals during is work as a lorry driver. Parts of the village were immediately sealed off.

The man, along with an ambulance crew tending him, and police officers, were taken to hospital as a precaution. The A&E department was completely shut down.

Leading firefighter Iain Gross, from Maidstone Fire Station, said: "Because the man was disorientated, the police were trying to ascertain what the substance was, where it had come from, and where else the man had been, but he didn't have many answers.”

Gemma Pettman, spokeswoman for Kent Police, said that in the end no chemicals had been found at all. She stressed: “There was no chemical contamination of the police car the man sat in, or the ambulance he travelled in, or his own clothing.

“As a result, there will be an ongoing investigation into the possession of controlled drugs.”

Maidstone Hospital's A&E department re-opened today at about 8.45am.