AN EXPLOSION scare near the region's biggest shopping mall has caused Christmas shoppers hours of delays.

Roads and rail links around the Gateshead MetroCentre were closed today after a highly explosive gas cylinder was spotted on a rubbish fire.

If the acetylene cylinder had exploded, it could have caused damage over a quarter of a mile.

Firefighters put a 300 metre exclusion zone around the blaze on Wednesday afternoon, while they blasted the cylinder with water to cool it down.

The zone was in effect until tea-time yesterday, in line with precautions to give the container 24 hours to cool.

Christmas shoppers heading to the on Wednesday night became snarled up in massive tailbacks, which choked roads around the complex. A police spokesman said: "It was total chaos. There were a lot of unhappy shoppers."

It led to the closure of several roads and the Newcastle to Carlisle rail line.

The area affected includes Riverside Way, beside Harry Ramsden's chip shop, up to the junction of Handy Drive and St Omer's Way.

The railway line between MetroCentre and Newcastle was also closed, with a replacement bus service running.

Fire crews from Swalwell were called out to what was thought to be a routine rubbish fire on waste ground in Handy Drive, Dunston, at 4.30pm on Wednesday.

On arrival, they discovered a cylinder had been thrown onto the fire and was threatening to explode.

Acting Station Officer Dave Curtis said: "It is a standard sized cylinder but has the potential to explode up to 300 metres, causing damage and a gas cloud.

"We set up a cooling monitor and withdrew to a safe distance. There has been a machine at the scene all night feeding the monitor with water.

"This has the potential to cause an explosion and there are procedures we have to take to avoid that risk."