Panic and confusion broke out at one of Britain's busiest transport hubs Tuesday morning after a false fire alarm forced the evacuation of Liverpool St Station in London.
Commuters described a "scary experience" at the station, which carries some 63 million passengers a year, revealing heightened fears among passengers in the wake of the Leytonstone Tube attack on Saturday night.
Witnesses said alarms rang out through the ticket hall, as the station was evacuated without explanation, with some reporting the commotion was caused by a man "kicking off and shouting".
Others described "mass panic" among travellers, with the situation apparently made worse by the lack of information coming from authorities.
The Huffington Post UK made at least eight calls to authorities including the British Transport Police, Network Rail and Transport for London, none of whom where immediately able to shed light on the incident.
A British Transport Police spokesman later told HuffPost UK it was due to a fire alarm going off, which turned out to be a false alert. The station has since re-opened.
Without any clear information immediately available, worried commuters were left to speculate on what could have caused the mass evacuation.
Others described the feeling of panic among commuters, following news more police officers would be deployed to rail stations across the country in the light of a stabbing at an east London Tube station on Saturday.
Some expressed concern at the "scary" event...
...while others described the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' nature of Londoners, who responded to the alert with bemusement and little concern.
A spokeswoman for Greater Anglia said one train was delayed by five minutes due to the evacuation, while Transport for London confirmed Tube lines running through the station were experiencing severe delays, but because of an unrelated issue.
Liverpool Street's Twitter account proceeded to issue apologies to commuters, posting messages to them individually finally confirming that the evacuation had been caused by a false alarm set off by a contractor.