A BAD pong forced City of York Council chiefs to evacuate 50 workers from their offices.

The George Hudson Street base of the community services advice centre was emptied as members of staff complained of nausea. The smell was tracked to the building's drains.

Bill Hodson, the council's assistant director of community services, said: "We believe the problem is simply down to a blockage in the sewage system and we have called in a team to investigate." He hoped everything would be back to normal by Monday.

Updated: 10:51 Saturday, November 03, 2001