A COLLEGE in Hereford has said social distancing is not as important when there might be a fire in the building.

It comes after some Hereford Sixth Form College students raised concerns about not being able to socially distance during an evacuation of the building on Thursday (October 22).

Video footage showed students gathered outside the college buildings in Folly Lane, but the principal Peter Cooper insists they were only there for a maximum of 15 minutes.

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Mr Cooper added: "It certainly wasn't planned, it wasn't what I wanted, the kids were all in lessons.

"At the end of the day, the guidance is quite clear. If the fire alarm goes off, this was a faulty sensor in a science experiment room and it went off."

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"The trouble is in this situation we don't want it, but the immediate danger trumps Covid in terms of we needed to get the kids out," he added.

"We're saying put your masks on, but they don't have to wear them in classrooms, that's the guidance. You get them outside as quickly as possible.

"It's not at all what we want, but it's what is was."