A major electrical retail chain has been accused of discrimination against smokers after an engineer refused to fix a computer "full of nicotine".

Rosemary Dunn bought a £700 Advent PC from Currys in Whitebirk, Blackburn, 18 months ago.

She also took out a "whatever happens" policy which, in return for an additional £9 per month, ensures Currys will have the machine repaired no matter what damage is caused to it.

But when Rosemary and husband Lyndsay called out an engineer after a cup of tea was split on keyboard, they claimed they were told it would not be fixed because they had invalidated their policy by smoking.

Currys has said that the technician had genuine concerns but they wanted to resolve the matter amicably and has offered to inspect the computer.

Simon Clark, director of pro-smoking campaign Forest, said: "This is absolutely pathetic. It's a load of nonsense.

"Computers have been around a long time and it seems this is somebody else jumping on the anti-smoking bandwagon. It seems remarkable this occurred just after the smoking ban came in."

Mr Dunn, of Holmbrook Close, Blackburn, said: "Every time we rang the helpline they would give advice over the phone. It was only when the tea was spilt that they agreed to send someone out. He took the back off the computer and said I'm not touching that, it's full of nicotine'.

"He claimed it was a health hazard and that we had invalidated our policy because we smoke. He left without doing a thing.

"Admittedly it was covered in dust but we hadn't touched it because we didn't want to damage it.

"After he left we vacuumed it and it looked as good as new - it was clearly not nicotine as that would have stuck.

"Even if it was nicotine, there was nothing in the policy about invalidating it."

Currys press officer Mark Webb said: "The technician did express some genuine concerns, but we'd like to resolve this issue amicably.

"We have already been in contact and organised for the PC to be inspected at our workshop."