SUPERMARKETS often like to boast that their prices are coming down, but at the Ross branch of Morrisons, it was the ceiling that suddenly succumbed to the force of gravity – right in the middle of a busy day's trading.

Natalie Porter, of Cinderford, was paying for her shopping at the checkout at 1.47pm on Monday September 20th – the time was printed on her till receipt – when she heard a noise. She turned around to see "a whole strip of ceiling falling down. People were coughing, there was dust everywhere."

Natalie, who was accompanied by her 30-month-old daughter Emmy and a Ross friend, Christina Featherstone, said the ceiling had missed her by inches. She was also adamant that the falling debris had been substantial, and potentially dangerous.

"These were big, heavy pieces of ceiling, with metal framework attached. If any of that had hit my daughter, it would have killed her."

Natalie was asked if Emmy had been frightened by the incident. She replied, "Not at the time, no. But ever since that afternoon, she's been saying 'Pop, pop, bang, bang, naughty ceiling' – which is worrying."

As most Ross residents will be aware, the supermarket is in the middle of a major expansion project. Many locals have been exasperated by traffic jams caused by works around the entrance, and Christina Featherstone described conditions in the store's car park, also being reshaped, as "a fiasco".

When the ceiling came down, a member of staff seemed unsurprised. According to Natalie, she said, "We knew something like this would happen".

But even more than the ceiling incident itself, Natalie and her friend were left unimpressed by the way Morrisons dealt with her subsequent complaint.

"I sent an e-mail when I got home, but heard nothing. I had to ring up twice more before I was sent a letter of apology, which by this time was not good enough.

"The letter was just a load of waffle, and the writer didn't even get the name of the store manager right. As far as I'm concerned, customers are still at risk."

In the letter, which the Gazette has seen, a Morrisons spokesman wrote: "All the appropriate steps have been taken in an effort to ensure that a situation of this nature does not arise again."