A boy accidentally knocked over a life-sized Teletubbies sculpture worth more than $6,000 - and his parents had to pay for it. (pictures added to end of sequence)

Furious staff found the 5.9ft-tall golden doll made from porcelain smashed into pieces at a toy shop in Langham Place shopping mall in the Mongkok district of Hong Kong, China, on Sunday May 22.

They checked the store's CCTV footage and the boy could be seen leaning onto the gold-coloured doll before trying to pull it back from falling. He was unable to save the giant glittery decorative item and it crashed to the ground.

At the time, the boy's father, Cheng, was on a call outside the shop but turned back in after hearing a loud smashing sound.

The boy's dad said: 'My son was motionless, he was just staring down at the toy. My son was terrified after the incident that he had to skip school. He asked me why the doll looked scary.'

Believing it was his son's mistake, Cheng agreed to pay for the doll. The shopkeeper discounted the item from its retail cost of 52,800 HKD (6,726 USD) and instead charged the cost price of 33,600 HKD (4,280 USD).

However, disgruntled father Cheng said that shop staff had initially told him that his son had kicked the doll but surveillance footage later showed the youngster had knocked the doll over by accident.

The father criticised the shop’s staff for allegedly misguiding him and his wife into believing their son had kicked the sculpture. He later called on the shop to refund the money and claimed they should have protected the doll by labelling it as frgaile.

The shop owners, KK Plus, claimed the compensation for the statue had been 'mutally agreed'.

They said in a statement: 'The incident was dealt with immediately and completely resolved, and the payment was proposed by the owner.

'This large-scale decoration is actually a prototype of the first printing. The official pre-sale price is 52,800 HKD. The cost of the prototype involves various expenses, including copyright and design, research and development and mold making, reinforcement, packaging, transportation and more. The decoration is only for viewing and has no toughness to withstand pressure.

'We did not charge the family more than the cost price of the goods.

'The decoration has been displayed at its current location since November last year and it did not cause any inconvenience to the customers.'