Co-operative staff had to throw away 2,000 items of stock after a fridge malfunction.

Customers at Honiton’s Lace Walk store were unable to buy chilled goods, including milk, after a gas leak within the fridge’s cooling system caused them to stop working.

The failure happened last Tuesday, but the store continued to trade as normal sectioning off fresh produce while they waited for new fridges.

Acting manager Chris Parkyn apologised for the inconvenience during the week.

He said: “Basically the system runs off of gas and the gas started to leak. It’s like a boiler, if there is not enough pressure it won’t heat up.

“So the fridges all stopped chilling.”

“Everything on the shelves, everything out the back, and I mean everything you would put in the fridge, once it got to room temperature, which it did quickly, we had to throw it out.”

The Co-op received new stock on Friday morning.

Mr Parkyn added: “It was a two-day turnaround, the team worked hard working through the night moving the old fridges, and I appreciate their hard work.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and we are sorry but we look forward to welcoming our customers back to the store.”