Skaters taking part in an ice dancing contest had to be evacuated from Oxford Ice Rink after vandals set fire to a portable cabin at the back of the building.

Teams from Slough, Milton Keynes and Birmingham were about to start the contest shortly after 5pm yesterday when smoke began pouring into the rink in Oxpens Road.

Staff asked 50 people to leave the rink for an hour while fire crews made sure the building was safe.

Assistant rink manager Peter Magnuson said fire crews from Rewley Road had already been called by a passer-by when staff noticed the smoke.

He said: "Someone in the field behind the rink spotted the fire and called the fire brigade, so they were with us by the time we called them. "The ice dance competition was just about to start and unfortunately we had to ask teams to leave the building, as a precaution, for about an hour, while the firefighters made sure their was no danger.

"Luckily, there was enough time for them to finish the competition.

"It looks like some children set fire to the cabin, and smoke came in because there was a door open, but I don't think there has been much damage to the building itself."

The rink was open to the public as usual today.

Bill Tumbridge, of Friends Of The Ice Rink, who attended the competition, said: "At first we thought someone had lit a bonfire but when the smoke started coming in a bit thicker, we realised there was a fire beneath the skate-grinding room, which has been damaged."