A ROW has broken out after a mayor and a wheelchair-bound charity collector were told to move from the front of a store -- because they were scaring away customers.

The Mayor of Blackburn, Coun Tony Humphrys, also claims he was offered £10 to move on by the manager at Boots in the town's shopping centre.

Today the company apologised for any offence caused.

Coun Humphrys was with his wife and mayoress Jacqueline, and Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Christine Lucas outside the store for an MS Society national flag day.

He said: "We weren't waving buckets under people's noses and we weren't blocking the entrance to Boots either.

"The entrance is about 30 feet wide so people who didn't want to talk to us didn't have to.

"But that didn't stop the manageress from coming out, with a security guard, demanding we move somewhere else.

"We explained what we were doing, and that I was the mayor on a charity engagement, but she said she didn't care because we were scaring away her customers and she offered me £10 to move on.

"We did move on, just a bit further along, and we had no problems there at all. We stayed for an hour before going to our next engagement.

"The way she spoke to us was absolutely disgusting, not because I am the mayor, but because we were there raising money for a very worthwhile charity.

"I have written to the head office today to complain. I am disgusted at this woman's reaction. I always thought Boots was a caring company.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society had permission from Standard Life, owners of Blackburn Shopping Centre, to operate inside the centre. A spokesman for Boots said: "We are sorry to hear about the incident outside our Blackburn store.

"We actively support two national charities, Breast Cancer Care and The National Asthma Campaign, and last year raised over £1 million. We try to co-operate wherever we can with fund-raisers by allowing them to approach customers outside our stores for donations.

"We do, however, have to bear in mind that some of our customers don't always like to be approached and therefore we ask that store entrances are kept clear.

"On this occasion, a friendly, polite request was made by the store manager for the fund-raiser to stand to the side of the store entrance. We are very sorry if this was misinterpreted in any way and any offence taken."

A spokesman for Standard Life said that the charity had its permission to be in the shopping centre, and that they had received no complaints.

David Corran, who arranged the collection for the Blackburn and District branch of the charity, said: "I was not there when this happened but have heard about it. The lady in the wheelchair says she has been collecting there for years."