BBC White City HQ Evacuated

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And John Simpson is keen to make it permanent!

Over 500 staff were evacuated from BBC TV Centre in White City on Tuesday afternoon after a gas leak was detected.

The workers were ordered out into the street at 4.40pm as firefighters wearing breathing masks searched the basement and found a gas leaking from a boiler room.

The leak was isolated and tests found the levels of gas did not pose a risk to the workers.

The evacuation caused the cancellation of the children's TV programme Newsround but normal service was resumed by around 6pm.

BBC TV Centre was also in the news at the International Television Festival in Edinburgh, where World Affairs Editor John Simpson spoke about the news operation's move to new premises in the centre of London.

He made his feeling about TV Centre clear when he said: " I'm sick of being out in that East German complex in Shepherd's Bush."

The long planned move is scheduled to happen next year, but John joked: " It's a race to see if I will die of old age before it happens!"

 

September 1, 2010