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Staff at a dry cleaners were left shocked and confused after a woman randomly dropped a live snake in their shop.

Bizarre CCTV footage shows a woman enter Pressing Matters Laundry Service on Duke Street in Birkenhead at around 8.30am on Wednesday morning before speaking to a member of staff.

Staff said the woman asked to pick up a dress she had left to be cleaned but said she had lost her ticket.

When the staff member, Jane Williams, turned her back to look for the dress the customer reached into her bag and pulled out a live snake.

She then reached over a partition between the front of the shop and where the clothes were kept, and dropped it onto the floor.

Business owner Linda Jones, who witnessed the strange incident unfold on the shop's CCTV camera, was curious over what was going on and went out to the front of the shop.

She told the ECHO: "I saw her pull something out of her bag while Jane's back was turned and drop it over the counter.

"When I went out I asked her was she ok and she started walking towards the door saying she had the wrong shop.

"She left and I looked to see what it was and was convinced it was a toy snake."

Liinda, who has owned Pressing Matters for nine years, said they were looking at the "toy" snake when it started to move.

She added: "Jane jumped over the counter and went down the street to get Frank, who owns a shop and has a friend who keeps snakes.

"He knows a bit about them so we got him to come up and catch it for us."

Frank Parkinson, owner of Marley's tobacco shop on Duke Street, said on Facebook that he had taken the snake to a pet shop to be checked over.

He said that the snake, believed to be around two to three feet long, was female, healthy and "very friendly".

Frank also told his Facebook followers that once the snake had been checked over, he would be keeping it as a pet in Marley's tobacco shop in Liscard. He also asked for suggestions on what he should name his new snake.

The reptile is believed to be a corn snake, a nonvenomous constrictor which kills its prey - usually mice or rats - by wrapping around and then squeezing them.

Linda said that the whole incident has left everyone "very confused".

She said: "I don't really know why she did it or where she got the snake, or what she thought would happen when she dropped it.

"It was a very random thing to do, especially as I have never seen her before."

The ECHO has contacted the RSPCA for comment over the incident.