Customers and workers at River Island in County Square, Ashford, were evacuated after the floor "exploded".

Several tiles across the floor suddenly cracked and flew apart, causing the occupants in the shop to run to safety.

The store supervisor, Alice Johnson, said: “It was absolutely terrifying, it sounded like we were getting bombed.

The River Island store in County Square

“The tiles exploded in the middle of the shop, from one end to the other. Things were being knocked over and shards of tile were flying in the air.

“It’s a bit of a blur, it was so loud. I just remember telling everyone to run and get out of the shop.”

This is the second time the store has had a problem with their floor; two years ago a similar thing happened, however, it was only to one of the tiles.

Some floor tiles have been boarded over

Ms Johnson continued: “I’m just so thankful that nobody was hurt because it so easily could have happened.

“We had about 20 customers in the store at the time some of which were children.

“Hardly any stock was damaged, only one pair of earrings.”

Shoppers had to run for cover from exploding floor tiles

The drama happened at around 4.30pm on Saturday, March 3.

The store remained closed on the Sunday, as well as half of Monday and part of Tuesday morning in order for the it to be made safe again.

Part of the floor has now been boarded up and the shop is open as usual.

A spokesman for County Square said: “Our surveyors are looking into it at the moment.

"It is an ongoing investigation into the cause and as soon as we find out what it is we can fix it."