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Major disruption into Leeds city centre and the dramatic evacuation of office buildings came after “engineers identified a fault” with a nearby crane, a contractor has confirmed.

There was a significant police presence in Whitehall Road yesterday (November 14), as officers said that there had been an “industrial incident” on a neighbouring building site.

It led to all of the office buildings at Wellington Place being evacuated at around 2.30pm, as fire engines and emergency responders continued to arrive. There were delays to train services and a tailback of cars struggling to leave the office development for some time.

Whitehall Road reopened shortly after 7pm and workers returned to nearby offices today.

The dramatic scenes in Whitehall Road on November 14 came after a "fault" was identified with a crane by engineers, according to contractor Bowmer and Kirkland which is building a development on the banks of the River Aire.

The principal contractor at the building site, on the banks of the River Aire, is Bowmer and Kirkland. The company issued a statement about the incident on the under-construction Whitehall Riverside development yesterday afternoon.

It said: “Bowmer and Kirkland can confirm the following. During a planned inspection, engineers identified a fault with one of our site cranes at Whitehall Leeds.

“This crane has been out of service since late last week. On advice from specialist engineers, we evacuated the site and contacted emergency services as a precautionary exclusion zone was set up. A recovery plan is being formulated and the engineering team will be on site this afternoon [yesterday] to assist the site team.”

The contractor was asked about safety on the site today and the exact nature of the crane fault, but the company has not yet responded.

Leeds City Council was also asked to comment.

Whitehall Road: Contractor issues statement on crane 'fault' that led to office evacuations and road closure