THIS was the scene at a Basingstoke assisted living complex when part of the car park collapsed this morning.

A section of the structure gave way at Lady Susan Court, in New Road, shedding a huge pile of debris on the concrete floor.

A shocked member of the public contacted The Gazette after discovering pile of mess strewn across parking spaces shortly after the ceiling collapsed at 7.30am.

No-one was hurt and no vehicles were damaged, but the impact disrupted the building’s electrical supply, putting the lifts out of action.

An investigation is underway.

The complex was built by retirement home developers McCarthy & Stone and only opened in July.

A company spokesman said: “We treat all matters relating to the safety of our customers and our buildings with the utmost importance, and we have sent our construction team, contractors and health & safety officers to the site today to manage the incident. While at this point it is too early to confirm the causes, initial inspections indicate that it relates to a failure of the fixings of an acoustic cladding system.

“The car park has been made safe and our construction team is looking at the best option to replace the system while minimising disruption to our homeowners.”

He added: “We have apologised to our homeowners for the inconvenience and have taken steps to reassure them. We will continue to communicate with them until the matter has been resolved to their full satisfaction.”