Security camera footage in Wales captured the moment an elderly woman’s coat got snagged on an opening security shutter, hoisting her helplessly into the air.
"People say it could happen to anyone," Anne Hughes, 71, told reporters after the incident. "No, it could only happen to me! It’s just lucky I’ve got a good sense of humor."
"I was just stood there when my coat got caught and up I went," she said, speaking near her home. "I thought ‘flipping heck!’"
Hughes, who works as a cleaner in the shop, stood outside the Best One shop in Tonteg, near Cardiff, South Wales, at 7:53 a.m. Monday morning. A colleague ran out after 12 seconds and helped get her down safely, lowering her to the ground and helping calm her.
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"I was lucky my coat didn’t break because I really didn’t want to land on my face again," Hughes said.
The store used the footage in an online promo, posting it to social media platform X with the caption, "Don’t’ hang about like Ann, come down to Best One to get the best deals! The only thing going up in this shop is our staff, not the prices!"
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Hughes remained in good spirits after the incident, which quickly spread on social media as people watched in disbelief – largely because of how unbelievable the scene appeared.
"I’ve only ever witnessed this on cartoons," one local told Jam Press, while another added with astonishment that Hughes "didn’t let go of her bag."
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"Why did she see what was happening and chose to find her trolley instead of freeing herself?" another local said, adding that Hughes got "full marks" for never letting go.
Yet another praised Anne for not losing her cool during the incident, saying, "Fair play to her! I hope she’s ok, and I’m guessing by the share that she sees the funny side of it."
Hughes had a bruise on her face and a black eye when she spoke with reporters, but she clarified that the injuries derived from a different incident as she has been "suffering falls for the past six months or so, and the doctors up the hospital think it’s from low blood pressure," adding that during the incident "it was going up then!"
One colleague described Hughes as "a lovely lady" and expressed relief that "she wasn’t hurt in any way."
"We know customers have been looking at the video – and we are just glad she is well," the colleague told The Telegraph.
