TODAY is the busiest day for staff at chemist shops across East Lancashire -- it's pension day and scores of elderly people visit the store they rely on.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph has launched a campaign to save our local pharmacists after an Office of Fair Trading Report recommended a change in regulations that could threaten their existence.

Health reporter ROGER AIREY visited Witton Pharmacy, Redlam, Blackburn, to see how customers' lives would be affected by the deregulation of pharmacies.

FOR 81-year-old Gladys Chadwick, her local chemist shop is a lifeline.

She has crippling arthritis, kidney problems and other complaints, but Witton Pharmacy is just two doors away and its medicines and friendly staff offer a source of comfort, especially since her husband died two years ago.

The local fruit shop closed a few months ago, the local post office is about to suffer the same fate, and for Gladys, the pharmacy is one place she can rely on.

The chemist and friendly faces behind the counter have been there the 25 years she has lived on Redlam and decades before too.

She goes in every day - for prescriptions, bits and bats and a good chinwag.

Proposals by the Office of Fair Trading aim to stop the regulation of the industry which so far ensures a good spread of pharmacies across towns so they can be accessed easily.

Opponents fear if the market is opened up to a free-for-all, small independent practices like the one at Witton will fail to compete if big retailers such as supermarkets enter the fray.

Gladys said: "It's not just a chemist. These girls that work in here are my friends as well. If they went I'd be absolutely lost without them. The other nearest one is a mile away and you can't expect elderly people to go that far.

"I rely on my medication and if I'm not up to it, the staff here pick my prescriptions up from the surgery, bring it back, sort it out and drop it off at my house. A big supermarket couldn't offer a service like that.

"The chemist is only two doors away for me and that's about all I can manage. I can't get into town -- I'd have to catch two buses and it's just not possible.

"When I heard about the fact they were under threat I was so angry. I was grabbing people in off the street to get them to sign the petition."

She has already written to Blackburn MP Jack Straw over the closure of her post office and is thinking about taking up her pen in anger again.

Across East Lancashire there are thousands of people like Gladys whose lives would suffer if they lost their local pharmacy.

Pharmacist Farhana Saddiqui, works in as a locum in several pharmacies, like Witton, in the area.

She sees the main source of competition coming from the big multiples, should the market be opened up .

She said: "Before the current restrictions came in around 1987, it was a free-for-all, but the difference then was that it was on a level playing field. You'd have independent chemists setting up against each other and if people weren't happy with the service at one they could go to another.

"The difference now though, is you'll have big multinational companies entering the market place and the smaller pharmacies just won't be able to compete.

"We know the individuals who come in here and their medication and we advise them. At big practices they're likely never to have seen the person before."

The pharmacy is ideally placed between the two surgeries, Redlam and Witton, which serve the area.

If there's a query over a prescription, a quick phone call down the road and a problem is easily rectified.

Pharmacy assistants Catherine Dawson and Diane Willoughby, as well as worrying about their jobs, are worried for the customers. They live nearby and are on first-name terms with most customers.

Diane said: "On Thursday, pension day, it's packed in here with older people who like to have a chat with us and each other.

"We have three lots of sheltered accommodation around here and we cater for them with deliveries. We also get a lot of young mums in."

Customers show their support

THERE is real strength of feeling about the chemists issue. Already, Witton Pharmacy, Blackburn, alone has had around 1,000 signatures for its petition and there are other copies in the off-licence and sheltered housing around the area.

Lucy Bibby, 23, has two young children Charlotte, three, and Harriet, four. Living close-by on Selborne Street, she can nip around the corner for wipes, nappies and other essentials.

She said: "I can't drive and if it closed I'd have to go into town which is not ideal with two young children. I'm going to sign the petition."

Keith Watkinson, 59, of Charter House Place, said: "I think the proposals are diabolical. There's two surgeries close by and everyone, not just the elderly, like to have their pharmacy nearby not miles away.

"A lot of people rely on it for their commodities too. I'm disabled and if I'm looking after my grandson I can't go traipsing into town."

Jean Holmes, 73, of Lansdowne Street, said: "I've already signed the petition. I use the place a lot and we've already lost good shops around here -- we don't want the pharmacy to go as well."