GUESTS at the Victoria House Hotel, Oxford, were evacuated when a fire broke out at a nearby hairdressers.

Twenty-two people had to leave their rooms at 4.30am yesterday when smoke from Toni and Guy hairdressers in George Street entered the hotel.

Four fire crews were called to the scene at 4.05am to tackle a blaze in the ceiling of the hairdressers, which damaged the shop’s frontage.

Hotel guest Tom Carmichael, 59, said: “We were awoken by the hotel’s night staff because there was a lot of smoke.

“We stood outside for about 30 minutes and then the police asked us if we would like to go down to the station to have teas and coffees.”

There was no damage to the hotel and no-one was injured. The firefighters stopped the blaze spreading to the shop’s upper floors.