A woman with arachnophobia says she was flabbergasted when she came face to face with a tarantula on the pavement near Deal High Street.

Kelly Chittenden, of Golf Road, saw the spider described as “about the size of a small orange” fall from above the Co-op superstore in Park Street, landing on the pavement below.

She said: “It landed with a thud. At first I just thought someone had chucked a bit of rubbish out the window. Then I looked closer and was so shocked.”

Ms Chittenden, who was in the town shopping, said: “It was only 10 or 12 feet in front of me. I was so flabbergasted I crossed the road.

“I don’t know if it was playing dead but it didn’t run off. Its legs were pulled in. Most of it was black, with some gingery brown bits on it.”

The frightened mum-of-two stayed close to the scene for around ten minutes as other shoppers and pedestrians stopped and looked. Nobody seemed to know where and why it had appeared on the street.

It was thought it could have escaped from a palette of food but Co-op manager Mujdat Gulum confirmed he did not store food in that area above the shop. The creature is thought to be a pet from one of the tenants in the flats.

KentOnline has tried to contact the tenant but with no success.

Ms Chittenden said: “The window was open but there was nobody above it. One of the people called up to see if anyone would come to the window.”

She added: “I’m just so thankful it didn’t land on me. I’ve got a real phobia.”

Do you know more about this? Is this your tarantula? What happened next? Get in touch by calling 01304 365526.