A mother has spoken of her shock and anger after a ceiling at a  Wycombe Asda store partially collapsed just seconds after her three-year-old son had been standing beneath it.

The woman said the incident happened while she was paying for shopping at a self-checkout near the in-store McDonald’s at Asda on Holmers Farm Way.

She said water burst through the ceiling, which gave way with a loud crashing noise, moments after her son had moved from directly underneath it.

She said: “I was about to pay for my shopping and I heard a loud crashing noise.

“And then as I’ve heard that, I’ve looked up, and I’ve just seen the whole ceiling give way with water.

“[My son] literally [moved] three seconds before the ceiling collapsed, he was directly under it.

“He had just moved over slightly to the side and as it had come down, I jumped, and leant over quickly and grabbed him.

“I managed to reach him and pull him over.  But as I had done that, he still got a bit wet in that water that came down.”

The mother said the incident had affected her and that it was particularly upsetting because she believes it could have been prevented.

She said: “To experience something like this involving my three-year-old son has really hit me hard.

“My biggest concern here is that it could have been prevented, that ceiling has been leaking for months and all they had was a black bucket underneath on the floor no warning signs and didn’t even seal off the area which would prevent any injuries to customers.”

The parent the incident was particularly distressing for her son, who is sensitive to loud noises.

She said: “He kept saying, Mummy, I’m scared, I’m scared. So now I don’t know how he’s going to be when I try to take him into ASDA again. He doesn’t forget anything.”

The child’s mother said staff and customers appeared shocked by what had happened, and praised the response of the McDonald’s manager, who helped comfort her son.

“It was the McDonald’s manager that came over first. And bless him, he’s a really nice gentleman, and he came straight over and tried to console my son and asked him if he wanted an ice cream.”

The mother said the situation made her angry, especially as she didn’t know what could have happened if her son was under the ceiling when it collapsed.

She said: “I was shook up more than anything, because that’s my three-year-old son, and if it had fallen down, then you don’t know what could have happened.

“He could have hit his head on concrete floor, you just don’t know. I was angry.”

She said she wanted the incident to act as a warning to parents always watch their children when they are out and to ensure the issue is properly addressed.

She added: “[I want] to make sure that Asda take accountability and to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

In response an Asda spokesperson said: “When we became aware of a small ceiling leak at our High Wycombe store, we immediately contacted our maintenance team and cordoned off the affected area.

“However, due to the adverse weather conditions during the course of the day the leak worsened. The issue has now been resolved, and we would like to apologise to the customer for their experience in store. We have invited them back into the store to discuss their concerns and offer a gesture of goodwill.”