Published: Saturday, 27th June, 2009 5:42pm

Ceiling collapses at supermarket

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Ceiling collapse

HALF the ceiling at the Tesco Express on Crown Street collapsed today with shoppers inside the store.

The recently opened store was forced to close when the ceiling fell as unsuspecting customers did their shopping, but there were no injuries.

Duty manager Ameer Mujahideen said: "Part of the ceiling collapsed but nobody was injured. We had four members of staff and some customers in the store, but no shopper was in the area where the ceiling fell.

"It fell gradually and not all at once making a loud noise, so there was time to move people out of the way."

Police and firefighters from Caversham Road attended and made the area safe.

Watch manager Steve Leonard said: "We secured the electrics and water, but I think that the store will be forced to close for quite some time."

The controversial supermarket has drawn much criticism both before and after it opened because of a lack of customer parking and the way that delivery trucks park on pavements flouting the law.

Despite the collapse Tesco are confident that they will be open for business very soon.

Mr Mujahideen said: "We hope to be back open sometime on Monday."