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Shoppers narrowly escape injury as roof collapses under weight of snow

The roof of a Tesco superstore in Scunthorpe has collapsed during the recent snow falls.

The store was open to the public when a section of the canopy roof failed under the weight of snow that had accumulated over a number of days.

A witness described how he had a lucky escape when 322 square feet of roof collapsed. He said:

“It could have killed somebody – Leon (his son) would have had no chance if he’d been underneath it. I heard the fire alarms go off and then there was a massive crash.

At first I thought it was an explosion, it was that loud. Fortunately, the collapse happened at the farthest point from the main entrance and many customers only discovered the drama when staff evacuated the building.

A Tesco spokesman said: “There was nobody in the immediate area. As a temporary precaution we evacuated the store.”

This article was posted on 7th December 2010 in ALL LATEST NEWS, INCIDENTS, STRUCTURAL SAFETY.
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