A YOUNG girl was left 'absolutely terrified' after getting her foot stuck on an escalator while she was out shopping with her family on Boxing Day.

Mother Casey Ward says she is incredibly thankful to the quick-thinking man who helped to pull her daughter free at Broad Street Mall.

Her five-year-old son was able to step off the escalator safely, but panic set in quickly when her daughter's sock started to shred.

The girl had received the wellington boots as a Christmas present, but was forced to leave the shopping centre with a sandal on the other foot.

Casey said: " We were all absolutely distraught. The man managed to pull her foot out of half of her welly so her foot was in the ankle part.

"I threw my shopping and dropped to the floor to try and pull the welly. It was well and truly stuck and the escalator was still pulling more in.

"At this point several people were manically searching for the emergency stop button and shouting for help.

"The man pulled my daughter harder to stretch her sock as it had by this point started to shred her sock too.

"It was pulled so tight it had sort of vacuumed onto my daughters foot and it wasn’t pulling off."

As well as the heroic gentleman who helped rescue the three-year-old girl, the mother has praised a good Samaritan, who purchased a unicorn toy to cheer the girl up.

Two security guards came over to reverse the escalator and remove the sock, but Ms Ward was unhappy at the lack of compassion her family received.

She added: " She kept her one welly on and wore a sandal on the other foot as she loved those wellies so much. She got them on Christmas Day and didn’t take them off since.

"My daughter and son were absolutely terrified and we all sat in a hug all in floods of tears at the bottom of the escalator.

"They [Broad Street Mall] did not check the escalators, or call an engineer. They just switched them straight back on.

"I am sure this experience will live with us for a long time."

Casey has since had a great deal of support on social media and hopes her safety concern will be taken seriously.

A spokesman for Broad Street Mall said: “We are aware of an incident on Boxing Day at Broad Street Mall, which involved a girl’s shoe becoming caught under the side brushes of one of the escalators.

"We can confirm that the family of the young girl and Broad Street Mall were in touch with each other immediately after this happened.

"We are continuing to look into the matter in more detail.”