HUNDREDS of residents were moved to a Monmouth leisure centre after a 40,000 litre tanker carrying alcohol rolled over on the Wonastow Industrial Estate.

Fortunately none of that really happened yesterday (Thurs) – but it was used as a scenario for a Monmouthshire council practice event to see how it would react in a real crisis.

About 140 volunteers were given roles to play and representatives from the Red Cross and St John Cymru were on hand to deal with their fictitious needs.

People were given the responsibility of acting out a number of medical problems, including streaming eyes from the spill and a headache.

Pregnant Blaenau Gwent council worker Steph Summers said she was being treated by St John Cymru volunteers because the effects of the spill had made her feel ill and she was worried for her unborn baby.

Barbara Barton, whose husband Julian Barton was being treated for an injured leg, said a number of members from the Usk-based Diabolical Drama group attended the scenario.

But she said she hoped Mr Barton’s pretend problems weren’t going to escalate into something more serious.

She added: “Six of us came from Diabolical Drama and we hope six of us are going to leave.”

They were able to later - and Mr Barton's leg returned to a healthy state.

Claire Cross, who normally works for Monmouthshire council at Abergavenny Library, said the situation as someone who was in charge of circulating information to people in the leisure centre was “challenging”.

She said apparently unnerved people had approached her with a host of problems. They included people who had a wedding dress appointment in Cardiff they were being prevented from attending; another panicked person who was worried they would not be able to collect concert tickets they needed for later that day; and a woman who was concerned her husband had been the driver who had crashed the tanker in the town.

A play area was set up for children by leisure centre staff and later a television was brought in to stop youngsters getting restless.

Emma Jackson, who works as Monmouthshire council’s information management officer and lives in Usk, attended the exercise with her four-year-old daughter Elisabeth.

She was given the job of being a fretful mother, whose daughter had asthma but whose inhaler had been left at home.

Pet owners were encouraged to bring their dogs and they were cared for by RSPCA representatives. Sue Price, from Merthyr, said she was there to help the council to deal with animals.

RSPCA Cymru’s public affairs manager, Chris O’Brien, thanked the authority for inviting them.

He said: “Exercises like this are exceptionally important. Ensuring a locality is resilient to the threat emergency situations pose to animals is key and RSPCA Cymru is delighted to have worked with the Local Authority towards this aim. 43 per cent of households in Wales own at least one pet, and major incidents, such as evacuation scenarios, can have a huge impact on animals and their welfare.”

The authority arranges exercises like yesterday’s, which was entitled Crash-a-Tanka, every three years. The emergency planning manager Ian Hardman names them after famous films. Yesterday’s took its name from Casablanca while 2012’s exercise held in Abergavenny was called Grief Encounter, after the blockbuster Brief Encounter.

Mr Hardman said: “I am extremely grateful and have been overwhelmed by the response of the public in giving up their time to support the exercise by volunteering to play evacuees. The excellent turn out, combined with their acting skills and willingness to throw themselves into the role plays they were given, ensured that staff working at the centre were sufficiently challenged.”