Shopping centre urgently evacuated as bomb squad rushes in to deal with 'suspicious package'

Lancashire Police has said: "We currently have a cordon in place in Lancaster Gate, Lancaster. This was following a report we received at 6:32am that a suspicious package was found near to a property.

"Colleagues from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team are on their way and we ask people to avoid the area as a precaution.

"We will provide an update when we can."

The county's Fire and Rescue Service has also announced that their team was "assisting the police and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team" at the shopping centre.

After the evacuation, police cordoned off a section of the one-way system along the A6 near the St Nicholas Arcades.

Colliding with the Monday morning commuters, Lancaster's motorists were afflicted with some traffic on their way to work earlier today.

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The shopping centre has since reopened, two hours after its closure had been announced online.

The retail complex apologised to its customers for any inconvenience caused.

A spokesman for the mall confirmed St Nicholas Arcades had closed just before 9am.

The announcement read: "Just to let everyone know that currently St Nicholas Arcades, including [the] car park, [is] closed.

"We will update everyone as soon as it reopens."

Police urged members of the public to avoid the area as some of the city's streets were closed off completely as emergency services carried out their investigation.

Some businesses in the area have closed such as Jo and Cass beauty salon along Great John Street.

It aims to resume business as usual from 1pm.