Asda have been forced to pull an item of kids' clothing from the shelves after a printing error left a Disney princess appearing topless.

One shopper was left "shocked" after spotting the children's swimming costume, which featured an image of Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

The picture of the famous Disney character was missing her shell bra and the shopper in Tamworth took to social media to express her shock at the bear-breasted mermaid.

Although Asda insisted that the error was only replicated on a "very small number" of the costumes, they removed the item from their stores and website.

Chelsee Mosson, 22, from Tamworth, made the discovery during a trip to her local Asda store, in Ventura Park, on Tuesday.

The shopper reports she came across the costume, which features Ariel from Disney classic The Little Mermaid, and was left "shocked", reports the Tamworth Herald.

The topless Little Mermaid that was spotted in an Asda store

She told the Herald: "Me and my partner were quite shocked about it.

"We both said if the design was to have a bikini top sewed onto it, it should have had a bikini top printed on too just incase something like this happened.

"It's a very bizarre one indeed."

The correct version of the £7 swimsuit - complete with modesty retaining shells - appears to have now been removed from the store's website.

What the image on the Asda swimsuit is meant to look like

An Asda spokesperson said: "We're sorry for the printing error on the Little Mermaid swimsuit, which was caused during the production process.

"It only affected a very small number of the swimsuits which were available from George, but we'd like to reassure our customers that we have removed all stock from sale and will ensure this doesn't happen again."