DOZENS of shops in Maidstone town centre were evacuated today after builders accidentally cut through a gas pipe causing a leak.

Police set up cordons to prevent the public from entering Gabriels Hill and firefighters and paramedics waited on standby at the junction with Week Street.

The alarm was raised just after 11am when members of the public smelt gas and telephoned Transco and the emergency services.

Builders working on the new premises for the Strawberry Moons night club in Gabriels Hill are thought to have cut the pipe after wrongly assuming it was no longer active.

A Strawberry Moons spokesman said: "We want to offer our sincere apologies to Maidstone shoppers, shopkeepers and anyone who was affected by this unfortunate incident."

All the buildings in the street were evacuated within six and seven minutues just before midday. Transco dispatched a team of engineers who cut off the supply to the damaged pipe and Gabriel's Hill was reopened to the public at about 1.30pm.

Trasco spokesman Neil Brenson said the gas in the pipe would have been at a relatively low pressure, but added: "There was a fairly large amount of gas, as you can imagine when someone damages a service pipe."

The smell was very noticeable within a 150-yard radius, including inside the Chequers Shopping Centre, which was not evacuated although the door leading to Gabriels Hill was closed.