A Blackburn grocer has revealed he was visited by the council over ‘health and safety’ concerns after stacking mango boxes outside his store.

Alam Food Store’s ‘mango tower’ on Preston New Road is now a regular feature of the summer.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said concerns were raised over the tower being 10ft high but on inspection it turned out these fears were unfounded. No action was taken against the shopkeeper.

First spotted two years ago, the tower consists of thousands of mangoes of all sizes boxed and piled up in rows on the side of the busiest road in Blackburn. 

Shopkeeper Muhammed Khalid revealed it used to take him up to an hour to balance the boxes, but he has since perfected the technique and does it a lot quicker.

The tower has proved to be a hit with shoppers who have been travelling across town to visit the store.

However, it appears not everyone is happy with the boxes which have been dubbed Blackburn’s ‘Mango Tower’.

Last week, shopkeeper Muhammed said he got a visit from the council.

He sad: “I was a little surprised and thought it was a joke at first.

“I was told that there were some sort of health and safety concerns.

“I do build it pretty solid. I was told they might be a little too high and they needed to be a certain height.

“They said they would be coming to inspect it again. I am happy to build it to whatever height they want."

 This was the scene last Tuesday at the store

Images taken at the shop last week appeared to show the mango boxes stacked higher than they actually were. They were never anywhere near as high as 10ft.

Martin Eden, Strategic Director of Environment and Operations said: “A health and safety officer visited the shop to review the height of the structure made from mango boxes due to concern in the comments on the Lancashire Telegraph article. 

“It was thought that the structure was 10-12 feet tall and could easily fall on somebody. 

“When our officer visited, the structure had been considerably reduced and the owner confirmed that after taking the photo, they had dismantled the structure it to a sensible height so people could safely pick up the boxes they required. No further action was taken.”

The ‘sweet honey mangoes’ have been popular with customers and in June, the grocer sold out of its first batch again within days. The tower has been stacked for a third time last week and again over the weekend.

Muhammed said it was great to ‘meet new people’ and he had got just positive comments from people.

Responding to the 10ft high claims he said: "Come on, no chance."