27 Dec, 2009, England, UK

A large piece of the plastic ceiling panel fell on the shoppers seeking Boxing Day bargains at the Selfridges store in the Manchester. The incident injured four people. The 3ft square piece from ceiling light fixture fell in the store in the Manchester Exchange Square at about 0815 GMT.

The incident happened in the ground floor accessories area. The customers have sustained some minor injuries. Selfridges said that a faulty access hatch caused the panel to fall down. It said that the hatch had now been fixed and the area where the incident took place has been reopened for the shoppers.

A Selfridge’s spokesman said that the shoppers’ injuries included bruising and a bloodied nose. It is estimated that a couple of hundred shoppers were in that store at the time and the area near the scene of the incident was immediately cordoned off. Adam Caulfield, from Oldham, was in the store at that moment of the accident, described the scene as the bedlam. There were around 400 to 500 people in that section and two staff trying to get to these girls and sort them out. There had been a huge queue to get into the Selfridges and also there was a stampede in one section.