Whitley Bay stallholder 'thought she was dead' when roof collapsed

Angelika Taic, who has a bakery stall at Whitley Bay station, said it took "days and days" to sink in just how lucky she was

A woman has told how she cheated death when glass roof panes collapsed and smashed just inches from where she was standing.

Angelika Taic was at her bakery stall at Whitley Bay Metro station when Storm Otto struck in February.

While her business was compensated by operator Nexus, she has demanded answers about how events were handled.

"I am still dealing with it. I thought I was dead and in the afterlife," the 38-year-old said.

Ms Taic had set up her Sustenance Society bakery stand in the station before the drama unfolded at about 08:15 GMT on 17 February.

"There was a gust of wind, I looked up and my mind went blank," she recalled.

"I remember hearing metal bending, almost like a car crash noise. Then when I got to the door of the ticket office I was screaming. Two panes of glass fell down with the metal supports in between them.

"The lady I had been serving kept saying 'You're not hurt!'"

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it took "days and days" to sink in just how lucky she had been.

The damage closed the station for a more than a month while specialists replaced the glass panels and trains were unable to pass through.

Safety netting has been installed at the station since Angelika Taic's near miss

"My coat and shoes were full of glass, it was on me, it just didn't cut me - which in itself is absolutely incredible," Ms Taic added.

"I reviewed the CCTV and it shows that I look up, something falls onto my right so I automatically moved to the left and away. As I moved away a pane of glass fell exactly where I was standing.

"In the weeks afterwards I spoke to other people who were on the platform, they recollected a child in a pram nearly getting hit by debris. A lot of people were affected by this."

Storm Otto brought winds of up to 70mph which wreaked havoc and caused major disruption to public transport.

The gales damaged the glass canopy roof at the Grade II listed station, which is set to be fully refurbished at a cost of £5.3m this summer.

Nexus's director of customer service, Huw Lewis, said routine maintenance to the canopy structure had been carried out and specialist contractors were brought in to install netting below the glass panes, which allowed the station to reopen.

"Thankfully, nobody was injured by this incident but I would like to stress that we are taking this very seriously and understand the concerns raised," he said.

"One of our managers went to see the people from the bakery the day after the storm to make sure everyone at the pop-up stall they had set up in the station at the time was OK, and we kept in touch and compensated them.

"We will continue to keep customers and local businesses informed and will share further details of the full restoration project soon."