CUSTOMERS at a Tesco petrol station were left in shock when part of the roof was blown off this afternoon.
Witnesses at the petrol station on Park Street, behind St Stephen's shopping centre, reported hearing a loud bang at around 1.15pm and looked up to see part of the roof crashing down around them.
Christopher McDonnell, 48, a photography lecturer at Hull College, saw what happened.
He said: "I was sitting in my office, which overlooks the garage, and suddenly I heard a loud noise. I looked out of the window to see parts of plastic on the roof start to peel off and then parts of the roof fell onto the ground and towards the road nearby."
Mr McDonnell said the larger pieces narrowly missed both customers and passers-by and it was a miracle nobody was hurt.
"There were two people stood on the pavement and it fell down very near them," he said.
Tesco employees at the petrol station said there were no injuries but four cars had been damaged.
Mr McDonnell said that at first everyone was stunned by what happened but people quickly sprang into action.
"Customers started to move some of the larger pieces of debris off their cars - I think they were checking for damage. After a bit some of the staff at the garage thought it would be a good idea to cordon it off."
A Tesco spokesman said the four cars suffered only minor damage and engineers will attend the site later today to assess the damage.
He said: "We're working to fix our petrol station at our St Stephen's Extra store in Hull.
"Due to high winds, the roof has suffered damage and we've cordoned off the forecourt temporarily as we wait for engineers to attend as soon as possible.
"We're glad that no-one was hurt and we're addressing any damage to vehicles. In the meantime, Hall Road superstore petrol station remains open to serve customers."
