THE husband of a disabled woman is calling on the owners of a shopping centre to pay the bulk of the cost of a replacement motor scooter after an accident at the centre.

Susan Campbell, 67, and husband Ted, 72, from Swan Farm Close, Lower Darwen, were making their way into Blackburn’s Mall when one of the doors closed on her scooter, causing damage to the chassis.

The Mall have offered Mr and Mrs Campbell £100 as an ex gratia payment, without admitting liability and as full and final payment.

But Mr Campbell wants more towards the cost of the £600 scooter, which can’t be repaired as the model has been discontinued and spares aren’t available.

The incident occurred last Friday as the couple made their way into The Mall, through the doors next to Sports Direct.

Mr Campbell said: “We were going into the Mall and I was ahead of my wife as I usually am when she’s in the scooter. As I passed through the middle door, which we discovered was button-operated, it closed shut on the back end of the scooter and several pieces broke away as it cracked.”

Mr Campbell said he reported the accident to Mall staff, who took a look at the doors and propped them open so they could get an engineer to look at them.

Mr Campbell was then asked by The Mall’s operations manager Andy Smith to contact the scooter’s manufacturer to see about a repair, and on further inspection of the scooter, he found further damage.saw the decor strip had been damaged and when he removed it further pieces fell off.

When told the scooter could not be repaired, Mr Smith replied asking for a valuation of what he described in an e-mail as ‘obsolete and damaged’, before offering what Mr Campbell described as a ‘derisory’ £100.

Mr Campbell said: “My wife is reluctant to use the scooter now as it is in a damaged state. It is usable but we do not know if, over time, more of the chassis will break away because of the initial damage."

“The scooter was her pride and joy. She doesn’t get out very often and usually wants to use the wheelchair but it is only four years old and has only been used once every few weeks and is in very good condition.

“I would like The Mall to make a more generous offer based on the cost of a replacement, something which doesn’t require us to stump up much of the cost. I would have thought that the bulk of the cost of a replacement should be borne by them.”

Mall general manager Loraine Jones said: “We take concerns from customers very seriously and have been in contact with Mr Campbell to resolve this.

“We are disappointed that our letter caused upset as this was certainly not our intention and we will continue our discussions with him.”