4 October 2007: Fear of frying

Staff at a Thai restaurant in London were puzzled when fire-fighters broke down their door and burst in, dressed in full chemical alert gear. All the staff were led out of the restaurant and had to wait in the street for three hours while the 'incident' was investigated.
Someone in the area had dialled 999 after what had been described as an "acrid cloud" had sent passers-by spluttering for cover. Fearing a terrorist attack police had sealed off the street and called a hazardous area response team to the scene. The smoke had been traced to the restaurant.

It transpired that the alert was caused by the restaurant's chef, who had been preparing an especially hot dish which involved dry-frying four kilograms of bird's eye chillies. The restaurant staff thought nothing of it, being used to the pungent aroma.

"I can understand why people who weren't Thai would not know what it was," the chef commented.