Part of a school was evacuated after a gas main fire this afternoon.

Pupils in part of Hurstpierpoint College had to leave the private boarding school after the incident this afternoon (March 4).

Emergency services were called at 12.25pm to reports of a gas pipe on fire in a boiler room on the edge of campus in College Lane.

Three fire crews and police officers were called and College Lane was been closed.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “College Lane has been closed while Southern Gas Network investigate a suspected gas leak in the area. “The College was alerted to a problem in a small service boiler room on the edge of the campus, which serves an annex building.

“As a precaution, pupils who were in lessons or lunch at the time, have not returned to the boarding house in the vicinity, which has been cordoned off whilst the investigations are taking place.

“There is no damage to the boarding house or injury to any member of the College.”

A police spokesman said there was no danger to anyone or to any nearby buildings and no suspicion of crime.