SHOPPERS were trapped inside a Poole supermarket as a man threatened to throw himself off the roof yesterday.

Police launched the force helicopter and set up two cordons around Asda, at Culliford Crescent, on Canford Heath, following 999 calls of a drunk man on top of the building at 4.13pm.

In total eight police cars and an ambulance were sent to the scene as officers tried to talk down the man, who was clutching a bottle of spirits and talking on his mobile phone.

Video of the man being arrested and headbutting the police van. Copyright Ken Larkman-Cooper.

Shoppers were left stuck inside the shop until around 5.30pm.

Witness Rudi Tobia, 15, from Poole, told the Daily Echo: “He was moving around getting closer to the edge where it was easier to jump off.

“As he moved to the other side of Asda, police had to cordon more of an area off.”

Three officers climbed onto the roof after the man was seen balancing on its edge, she said.

“He laid down on the edge so they couldn’t get too close and were just talking to him,” Miss Tobia added.

“He was right above the shop entrance so the people in Asda weren’t allowed out. One of my mum’s friends was stuck in there.

“Although it all ended okay, people are still in shock. There were lots of kids around too as everyone had just finished school.”

One fire engine from Poole station attended shortly after 4.50pm, a Dorset Fire and Rescue spokesman said.

Barman Kyle West, 22, was on his way to work at nearby The Haymoor pub at the time.

“I was just starting my shift as they went up onto the roof to get him and used the fire engine to help get him down,” he said.

“People who lived locally had come down and had a look, and there were also a few children around.”

Student Hollie Fryer, 17, from Canford Heath, said: “The police said we weren’t allowed around the shop because someone was intoxicated on the roof and threatening to jump.

“There were lots of kids around. It must have been quite traumatic for them. There’s a school just over the road and people were coming shopping with their children. It must have been horrible for them to see that.”

Luke Brand, 21, a mechanic from Poole, said: “They weren’t letting anyone in the shop. They had to close the dentist and the vet and everyone down there.”

Rob Searly, 44, from Hasler Road, said he had driven to the shop after work and found the car park packed with around 50 people.

“They brought the man down using the platform from the fire engine,” he said.

Inspector Geoff Hicks, of Dorset Police, said: “At approximately 4.13pm police attended reports of a drunk male on the roof of Asda at Culliford Crescent.

“After some time, police detained a 33-year-old local man who has been taken into police custody.”