STORE officials have visited a mayor to apologise after one of their managers ordered him to move on when he was collecting money.

The Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Coun Tony Humphrys was left fuming after the incident involving him, his wife, Mayoress Jacqueline Humphrys, and a collector for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The manager of Boots' Blackburn shop asked them to move away from her store last month because customers were being put off entering.

Coun Humphrys insisted they had taken money only off people who had approached them and was offended when the manager offered them £10 to go away.

The collection had been permitted by the owners of Blackburn Shopping Centre and the wheelchair-bound woman Coun Humphrys was collecting with, MS sufferer Christine Lucas, said she had collected outside the store for years. Coun Humphrys immediately complained to bosses at Boots' head office in Nottingham, stating that with a wide open-plan entrance, shoppers had no trouble getting into the shop without donating money.

On Friday, a senior manager from the firm met Coun Humphrys in the Mayor's Parlour at Blackburn Town Hall in a bid to 'build bridges', according to Coun Humphrys.

He said: "We had a visit and I am grateful for that. They appear to want to build bridges.

"I explained that I was upset more than anything for the poor woman who had been moved on with us more than anything, and that being offered £10 to move on was an insult.

"From what I can gather, the whole episode has caused a bit of bad feeling in Blackburn among shoppers and I think they are quite keen to smooth things over.

"I hope we can do that, and they have gone away to think about what they can do. They have apologised though and I am pleased at that."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council confirmed the meeting had taken place. Nobody was available to comment at Boots.

When details of the incident first emerged, a spokesman for the company, which has branches throughout East Lancashire, apologised if any offence had been caused but insisted the approach by the company's staff had been friendly and polite.