A DISABLED shopper was locked inside a bargain store for more than an hour and called out police who had to force open a door.

Tracey Cook, 41, visited the 89p Super Store in Bank Street, Rawtenstall, with her partner to buy some DIY goods, but was left stranded in the shop after an employee popped out and locked up.

Miss Cook, who suffers from the chronic fatigue syndrome ME, was forced to call police for help after failing to catch the attention of passers-by.

She said that when the shopkeeper returned, he could not explain where he had been.

The couple were locked in the shop from around 12.55pm to 2pm on Friday.

Miss Cook, of Woodside Crescent, in Newchurch, said: “The guy working there walked past us on the way in with a couple of buckets but it didn’t look like he was preparing to shut the shop.

“We walked around, got some bits and then when we got to the till realised he still hadn’t come back.

“There was no sign at the till but we managed to read a sign on the door that said: ‘Closed until 2pm’.

“We shouted for help but it was no use and after about 20 minutes we phoned the police and eventually they arrived and forced open a side door.

“When the man returned he couldn’t really grasp the situation he had caused.

“I think he still thought we wanted the items we had picked but he didn’t say sorry and we just left.

“It left me a bit dazed.”

A Lancashire police spokesman said: “I can confirm we attended the incident and managed to gain access to the building.”

The store hit the headlines in October last year when traders and a civic group demanded the owners take down a bright orange sign.

The sign, bearing the name of the 89p Store, appeared overnight one weekend. Former Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce president Clive Balchin called the sign ‘an abomination’.

The shop occupies the former home of Ethel Austin, POSH and Woolworths. Nobody from the shop was available for comment yesterday.