A BUSY town centre car park has suddenly closed amid reports of structural defects.

St George's Shopping Centre chiefs shut the car park immediately after engineers uncovered serious problems.

Despite recent renovation work to the shopping centre, owners Legal & General Property say they had no plans to alter the car park before the alarming discovery was made.

But after experts found water in the concrete and serious cracking in several parts of the 450-space car park, the site has been made a 'no-go' area to the public.

Legal & General managing director Stuart Beevor said: "The safety of visitors to St George's centre is paramount."

St George's centre manager Carol Lowde said: "Although it didn't shock me the news has lead to a lot of hard work for us. We have since been in touch with the council and had signs put up warning shoppers about the closure." She also stressed her resolve to help shoppers solve the knock-on parking problems: "I've been in touch with other agencies, such as park and ride, and I am satisfied that these are reasonable solutions."

A report into the state of the car park will be completed in a week, when Legal & General will decide how best to solve the problems.

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