A store worker has spoken of the horrific moment she saw emergency services try to help a man down from a ledge.

Several shops were forced to close while there were concerns for a distressed man in The Mall Maidstone, in Pad's Hill, Maidstone.

All entrances to the centre were closed from just before 8am and customers were unable to access shops within the centre.

Emergency services attended and the man was later helped by health workers.

Security teams walked around the centre this morning and told businesses to close their doors and shutters.

The centre and stores re-opened at around 1.30pm.

Ryan Burbridge, manager of World of Glass and Gifts, which was near the incident, said: "I was stuck in here for four hours. For me I wasn't really worried I just wondered why.

"We weren't allowed to come out of the shop. Every time I went near the door security put their hand up to say stay inside."

The 27-year-old, from Ditton, said because the shopping centre was on lock down, he estimated the pop-up Christmas shop made a loss of around £500.

Members of staff in Next saw the man hanging on to the inside railings on the first floor outside the store when they arrived this morning.

One woman who works at the shop said a co-worker tried to talk the man down from the edge before the emergency services arrived.

She said: "It was horrible to see him pacing around the ledge and I'm glad he got down safely. He wasn't aggressive or unpleasant or anything, just distressed."

Cakebox customers were left disappointed when they couldn't collect birthday cakes they had purchased.

One female member of staff said: "I called the customers and said something is happening here, The Mall is closed.

"I said 'I'm sorry' and asked them to collect after 1pm. One man was very upset."

She said the eggfree shop normally makes around £500 by 1pm but had only taken £200 that day as a result of the closures.

Reza Tabibi, 48, from Canterbury, commuted into Maidstone to open his store, Persian Art Emporium, but when he arrived at the Gabriel's Hill entrance at around 9.30am, he was unable to get inside the building.

He said: "When I tried to get in to do my paperwork I was told I couldn't do that by the security people.

"I lost half a day plus because I had some paperwork and VAT returns to do so it has affected more than half a day."

The business owner went to a café while he waited for the centre to reopen but said it would have been helpful for the centre to put a banner up to inform people as to what was going on.

Clothes shop The Scene was forced to cancel shifts for members of staff that were due to come in for work this morning.

The manager, Sandra Kazmierczak, 25, of Scotney Gardens, Maidstone, said: "I didn't know what has been going on. It was just a waiting game.

"I left the shutters open for the first 15 minutes but then I just closed it and went round the back and did some work."

The manager of the Laptop Doctor, just inside the King Street centre entrance, said he had staff due to come who weren't allowed in and a few customers were waiting to collect their devices.

He said: "No one has mentioned anything about the loss to our business. Both the rates and the council should give some sort of compensation."

Despite rumours circulating the man had a knife, Kent Police has told the Kent Messenger this was not the case.

No offences have been reported.

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Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone