A firefighter on his way home for a late lunch discovered a chemical leak at a factory.

Sub-officer Norman Ingram, of Bexhill fire station, was going to Piltdown Close, Bexhill, when he noticed an overpowering smell of ammonia from RHM Frozen Foods in Beeching Road.

He said: "I dialled 999 and got on my bike to ride back to the station.

"I could hear the gas escaping. The system was overheating and that had increased the pressure on the ammonia, which was escaping through a pressure valve.

"There were people sitting on the side of the road who were overcome by the fumes and were being treated by paramedics.

"We asked police to do a check to make sure there was no one else in the area we had missed. We had two people in chemical suits and we just had to wait until the pressure eased off before the valve was turned off."

Nearby Birchwood Ford garage evacuated staff from its workshop as a precautionary measure but a spokesman said no one was injured.

Three fire engines were called to the scene from Bexhill and Hastings, and stayed for 40 minutes.

A spokesman for RHM Frozen Foods said: "All staff were back at work in an hour."