A viral incident in which a grandmother was hoisted into air by a shop’s security shutters has been immortalised in a spray-painted mural.
Anne Hughes, 71, was seen standing outside the Best One convenience store in Rhondda Cynon Taf when her coat got stuck in the shutters, and she was lifted 7ft into the air.
The moment was caught on CCTV and went viral after it was shared by the shop’s owners on social media.
Now it has been immortalised in a mural, spray-painted onto the shutters by graffiti artist, Tee2Sugars.
The 33-year-old, from the nearby village of Tonyrefail, said he was asked to paint the piece by those at the store by its owners.
“I had seen the video quite early on and my wife and I had both laughed about it. So when I saw the message asking me to paint it I said yes straight away,” he told Sky News.
The father-of-two went out at 10pm on Thursday and spent two-and-a-half hours spray-painting the mural free-hand using an image from the CCTV as a reference.
“She [Anne] was happy with the outcome and that’s the main thing. I think she has found it [the whole situation] really funny and has been a good sport about it all,” he said.
The graffiti artist has been painting for around 15 years, but turned his hobby into a full-time business after losing his job as a graphic designer in the COVID pandemic.
Since then, he has painted murals around the world, a number of which have gained fame online and in the media.
He said a crowd of around 30 to 40 people turned up for an unveiling of his latest mural.
“In places like Rhondda Cynon Taf and other small villages around here, it’s not often things go viral, so I think everyone has been enjoying the spotlight,” he added.
Graffiti artist Tee2Sugars next to the mural. Pic: Tee2Sugars
The incident happened while Ms Hughes was standing outside the store, where she works as a cleaner, waiting for it to open, when the electric shutters were raised and her coat got stuck.
Footage showed her dangling upside down before a shopkeeper rescued her by holding her in his arms as the shutter was slowly lowered.
Speaking at her home near the Best One shop in Tonteg, near Pontypridd, Ms Hughes said her thought at the time was “flipping heck”.
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“It’s just lucky I’ve got a good sense of humour,” said Ms Hughes, who has been dubbed “SuperAnne” in her home village in Wales.
She said: “I’ve been suffering falls for the past six months or so and the doctors at the hospital think it’s from low blood pressure – it was going up then.”
Anne Hughes, 71, was hoisted into the air
“I’m learning to live with the fame. I’ll never hear the end of it,” Ms Hughes added.
“The shutter was completely open, then I screamed his [the shopkeeper’s] name, and thank goodness he came out and lowered the shutter a little bit and managed to get me in his arms.
“And I just can remember saying to him ‘just grab my head’ – I was worried I was going to fall, I was pointing towards the floor.”
But while Ms Hughes says she was shaken up by the incident, she was not injured.
