A husband says he had to evacuate other movie-goers himself during a fire alarm at Cambridge's The Light cinema because he couldn't see staff members anywhere.

27-year-old Harry Shortle and his wife Lauren visited The Light Cinema in Cambridge last Wednesday (November 7) for what they thought would be an enjoyable, relaxing trip to to see a new film, however due to a fire alarm being falsely set off this was not the case.

"We were sat watching the film when about an hour or so into it I heard a beeping and what I thought was someone's voice and a type of alarm going off outside the screen.

"I heard it because it was a quiet part in the film. The guy next to me noticed it too, but we could only just hear it so we got up to go and have a look.

"There was a loud voice over the intercom system saying something like you must leave the building there is an incident going on.

"I thought what the hell is going on."

When Harry heard an alarm from outside the screen he was concerned

After noticing everyone was evacuating the cinema because of the alarm, Harry and the other man went back into their screen to get everyone out.

He added: "Leaving the screen and seeing everyone leaving and hearing the alarm we went back in and I shouted to everyone in the screen to get out and evacuate.

"Everyone rushed outside of the screen as fast as they could.

"Me and my wife got out first because she was in the front row so I grabbed her and we got out."

However through all of this chaos in the cinema Harry noticed something he found very concerning.

There were no staff to be seen when the alarm was going off

"The alarming thing about all this was there were no staff anywhere.

" I didn't see anyone at all. I didn't see anyone when I came out the screen, no one came into the screen to tell us what was going on. It was shocking."

As everyone evacuated the cinema they moved downstairs to near where the bowling alley is located. People waited patiently in that area to see what was going on, they waited for answers and instructions on what to do next.

Finally Harry saw some members of staff and decided to question their whereabouts. He said: "When I finally saw some staff I went over and asked why did they not tell anyone, why they weren't inside warning people and getting us out of our screens.

"All they said was they were not seen because they were dealing with the alarm."

Although it was a false alarm it raised massive concerns with Harry and his wife about their safety had it been a real fire. He added:"It was definitely a false alarm but still the staff really let the side down. They weren't there at all, not helping get anyone out or telling anyone anything in the screens what was happening.

"There could have been flames in the hallway and we would have been sat in the screens with no idea.

"I'm just really disappointed in the staff."

Harry's wife, Lauren went on to raise her concern and emailed the cinema about the whole incident. They emailed back apologising and offering a free coupon, but "if it had been more serious, a free coupon wouldn't have really done much" Harry responded to their compensation.

Luckily it was a false alarm going on in the cinema

The cinema's response

CEO for The Light Cinemas Limited, Keith Pullinger responded: "The Light Cinema in Cambridge was subject to an evacuation on November 7. This was caused by a person activating the break glass alarm button.

"Once activated, the system gives a first warning alert, which allows the staff to investigate any incident, before the system goes into full evacuation mode.

"During this investigation period, it would appear that a customer saw the initial warning alert and took it upon themselves to signal other customers to evacuate.

"Once the incident had been investigated by the staff, they established that it was a false alarm and that no full evacuation was necessary.

"We are satisfied that the occurrence has now been properly investigated and that any learnings taken."