A 30ft SCAFFOLDING tower came crashing down in Winchester High Street yesterday, writes Michael Carr.

Traders scrambled to move their cars as the metal structure collapsed yards from where they were setting up their stalls on Sunday morning.

Witnesses say three contractors, who were cleaning gutters in clothes shop Monsoon, attempted to move it from one side of the shop to the other without dismantling it.

Video courtesy of Robert Berry

The initial crash was halted by a street sign, which gave other traders time to quickly get out of the way. Just minutes later the tower crashed to the ground.

No one was hurt.

Busker Robert Berry watched the incident unfold. He said: "The two guys, they were just hanging onto it for dear life and it was just propped against the post.

"Everyone was shouting and screaming 'move your cars!' All the traders had to quickly jump into their cars and get them out of the way.

"There was another chap trying to keep people from walking under it - it was a right old scene."

Jonathan Walker, a market trader from Kings Worthy, said: “They were in the process of wheeling it from one side to the other, there was a lamppost in their way and they had to go round it.

"I heard a big crashing sound and people shouting, then I saw it topple. It hit a post on the way down which broke its fall, if that was not there it could have landed on some cars nearby.

“It was very lucky that no-one was in the vicinity where it fell, it could have been a lot worse.”

Mr Walker believes the incident could have been prevented had the contractors dismantled the mobile scaffold before moving it.

He added: “It was not fixed to the wall and secured, and I think they should have not moved it without dismantling it."

Monsoon did not comment on the incident, but said they were investigating how it occurred.

The incident happened just after 8am.