Angry shoppers have blasted the White Rose Centre after the shopping mall was closed for three hours today over a fire alarm fault.
People said they were herded into the car parks and left stranded outside in the rain unclear about what had happened at the store, which is near junction 28 of the M62.
The centre tweeted just after 11am it was closing after testing the fire alarm system caused an error.
They said: "This poses no risk to our visitors, however to ensure the complete safety of visitors and staff we will be closing until this is resolved. We will update as this progresses, apologies for any inconvenience."
The closure also caused traffic problems in the area, with heavy queues along the A653 Dewsbury Road and A6110 Leeds Outer Ring Road as hundreds of drivers piled out of the car parks. Bus passengers were told to expect delays of up to 40 minutes.
LeedsLive reported White Rose staff were on the two roundabouts with entry into the centre, preventing people from coming in.
Traffic started to affect the M62 at junction 28, causing delays on the westbound carriageway.
The centre tweeted again at 1pm to apologise for the continued closure - and finally confirmed it was reopened at 2pm.
