Staff and guests were evacuated from the Abbey Hotel in Malvern when lift machinery caught fire.

Three fire engines attended after staff saw smoke coming from a lift motor room at the top of the building.

People gathered in front of the hotel for around an hour on Friday morning (July 15), as firefighters dealt with the incident.

"The alarms went off straight away," said general manager Patrick Jones. "We had a new alarm system fitted last year in every part of the building and this picked it up.

"We evacuated everyone, but luckily there aren't too many guests in during the day."

The incident interrupted a conference being held by Koito Europe Ltd, of Droitwich.

"We were in the middle of things when we heard the alarms and came out," said spokeswoman Lyn Yates. "Staff came out to see if we were all okay, but there were no problems."

Guests were allowed back into the building soon after, but told not to use the lifts.