A customer broke his arm diving out a coffee shop's first floor window after mistaking the sound of schoolchildren throwing trays on the floor for a terror attack.

The injured man was so convinced an attack was imminent that he jumped out of the window at the Costa Coffee outlet in Didsbury, Manchester.

He was one of many inside the shop who became panicked following the disturbance on Wednesday afternoon.

One customer was so concerned that the first thing she thought about was the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, when 130 were killed.

The customer was so worried about a potential terror attack that he jumped out of a first floor window at the coffee shop in Didsbury, Manchester (pictured)

People sitting on the first floor of the cafe are reported to have 'freaked out' when they heard shouting and several 'gunshot-like' bangs.

Eyewitnesses said the man, believing the premises to be under siege, clambered out of one the front windows head-first before running to a nearby bank to call for help.

Other customers upstairs said they, too, thought they were under attack.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: 'I was sitting having a coffee when there was a really loud shout.

'At first I thought it was just someone messing about, but then I heard some massive bangs.

'It sounded like shots were being fired. It was not just me who thought that.

'Other people were running around trying to get out on to the balcony but the door was locked.

'I think that's why the man went for one of the front windows.

'When I looked round I could only see his feet hanging from the window.

'He was climbing out head first.

'To be honest I wasn't surprised by his reaction because we all thought an attack was happening.

He was one of many inside the shop who thought the sound of schoolchildren throwing trays on the floor was a terror attack

'It sounded like there was a shooting downstairs. I was expecting people wearing balaclavas and carrying guns to come upstairs.

'Afterwards one woman said the first thing she thought about was the Paris attacks.'

It was only when a friend of a customer came upstairs that the group realised it was not an attack or shooting.

It turned out the banging had been caused by a group of young people throwing the trays on the floor.

The eyewitness added: 'Someone came up and said it had been a group of students messing about.'

Police confirmed they had been called to reports of a disturbance at 3.50pm. A GMP spokesman said a man was taken to hospital with a suspected broken arm via ambulance.

There was no further police action.

A group of school children were seen running from Costa around the same time of the incident, a worker at a nearby business said.