Shop fall girl remains critical

The store was closed on Friday afternoon

A toddler remains critically ill after falling about 100ft (30m) from an escalator in Liverpool's Primark store.

The three-year-old girl fell through a gap between the escalators to the lower ground floor while travelling up to the third floor with her family.

She suffered life-threatening internal injuries and broken bones in the fall on Friday afternoon and was taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

The Church Street store closed for the rest of Friday but has now re-opened.

Geoff Lancaster, Head of external affairs at Primark, said: "The Health and Safety Executive gave us clearance to open the store today.

Extra staff

"We have drafted in additional senior staff from other stores because obviously the staff on duty yesterday were pretty shocked by the whole thing.

"We also have additional security on throughout the store and they will be paying extra attention to the escalators but this is purely a precautionary measure."

A joint investigation into the accident, which happened shortly before 1330 BST, is being carried out by Merseyside Police, the Health and Safety Executive and Liverpool City Council.

Officers spent Friday afternoon searching CCTV images and questioning staff and shoppers who may have seen the child fall.

The discount fashion store, which at 84,000 sq ft is one of the biggest in the UK, opened last September after a major redevelopment of what had been a Littlewoods store.

It covers five floors and is even larger than the branch on London's Oxford Street.