Battersea shopping channel QVC abandons broadcast after gas scare (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Battersea shopping channel QVC abandons broadcast after gas scare

3:30pm Friday 22nd May 2009

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Shopping channel QVC was forced off-air for 30 minutes when a gas-based fire extinguisher system went off accidentally at the company’s headquarters in Battersea last Wednesday.

Eleven workers were treated for breathing difficulties, and some 500 people were evacuated, when the system went of at Marco Polo House, Queenstown Road, about 9.15am on Wednesday, May 20.

Fire and ambulance crews sent a hazardous area response teams to the scene and treated 11 employees on site for injuries, including “breathing difficulties and irritation to the eyes”.

Traffic around Queenstown Road and Chelsea Bridge was affected during the incident, but a spokesman for QVC said no employees were taken to hospital and there was no damage to broadcast equipment.

She said: ”We would like to thank the emergency services for their speed and professionalism and to apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by events.”

As live programming was taken off-air the channel aired pre-recorded content.

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