A SHOPPER caused widespread panic in Asda – after announcing on the tannoy that there was a “paedophile on the loose”.

Gary Bryce was shopping at the supermarket in Bearsden last month when he got his hands on a store microphone. After greeting shoppers in a calm voice, he asks them to evacuate the store because there is a “paedophile on the loose”. Concerned families can be heard screaming in the background as Gary bursts into laughter. The 20-second clip has gone viral online, with over 141,000 views in the space of a month, but enraged parents have also hit out at the “sick” prankster.

The video, taken by Gary himself, begins with a shot of the supermarket floor as he walks down an aisle.

It appears as if he knows one of the workers there, as he can be heard asking, “Is it on, yeah?”

The camera pans around to his face, and he can be seen holding a store microphone as a friend in a high-vis jacket appears behind him.

Putting on a calm voice, he speaks into the device and says: “Attention valued shoppers. Please evacuate the building.

“There is a paedophile on the loose. I repeat, there is a paedophile on the loose.”

Screams and shrieks can be heard in the background as the video ends and Gary descends into fits of laughter. Thousand of amused Scots have found the video “hilarious”, and commended Gary for the joke.

Laura Walton said: “Shouldn’t find it funny but I do.” Naomi Brown wrote: “Haha that’s hilarious. Folk are screaming in the background.”

Rory Morgan added: “Would expect nothing less of Bearsden.”

However, some didn’t find the video quite so side splitting.

Sarah Ainsley said: “Not in the slightest bit funny. I was in Asda at this time with my little girl and I heard this. My heart sank. Saw other parents grab their kid’s hands in complete shock. Sick individual.”