A shopping centre was evacuated after reports of “suspicious items”.

Police cordoned off the car park at The Mall in Maidstone and have since declared the area safe.

Officers received the call at around 11.15am, to a report of suspicious items in the car park near Romney Place.

A witness who was at the scene during the time says they weren’t told much, except that the police had complete control of the shopping centre.

“We were all evacuated about an hour ago,” they said. “The fire alarm was going off and everyone had to leave.

“I couldn’t see much of what was going on but there was lots of speculation. It seemed suspicious.”

Arriva tweeted at 12.11pm, warning that all services in the town centre had been diverted due to the incident.

Maidstone Bus Station and the High Street were also closed to traffic.

“This is beyond our control,” it said. “All Services will be picking up and dropping off at King Street.”

At around 12.30pm, it was reported that staff had been let back into the building.

Police have confirmed an item was found which has been deemed non-suspicious.

A spokesman from the service said: “The area has now been declared safe, the cordon has been removed and officers have left the scene.”