A PENSIONER died following an accident while shopping in her local supermarket.

Vera Longfield, 86, was shopping at Tesco's Clitheroe branch when she was knocked to the floor by a metal stock cage after a customer bumped into it with a shopping trolley.

The pensioner, who lived in Brook Street just yards from the store in Duck Street suffered a broken leg when she fell on the floor of the aisle. She died two days later in hospital.

East Lancashire coroner's office, which opened an inquest into her death, said she appears to have suffered complications following the injury and never recovered.

Police, store bosses and Ribble Valley Council's environmental health department are now investigating the incident which occurred just before 2pm on January 4.

Today staff spoke of their sadness following the death of the popular customer.

A spokeswoman for Tesco said: "Vera Longfield was a regular, well-known and very likable customer.

"She was a part of the Clitheroe store and our staff will miss her.

"Her injury was caused by a genuine accident and our thoughts are with her family and friends.

"We have spoken to her family, the police and the council about what happened and we will help them if they decide to carry out any further inquiries.

"We have procedures in place to ensure this kind of accident doesn't happen, but it does happen rarely."

She added that no disciplinary action will be taken against any members of staff.

Eamonn Roberts, Ribble Valley Council's senior environmental health officer, said: "We are conducting an investigation into this tragic accident and will make our findings known in due course.

"At this stage, there is no suggestion of any breach of health and safety regulations by the supermarket concerned."

Mrs Longfield died at Blackburn Royal Infirmary two days after the incident.

Her funeral was held yesterday morning at Accrington Crematorium.

Neighbours said Mrs Longfield was an active pensioner who had two cats but otherwise lived alone.

One Brook Street resident, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm sorry to hear what happened. I saw her just a couple of weeks ago when she was asking if anyone had seen her cats."

The inquest into her death was opened at Blackburn Coroner's Office yesterday(MON) and was adjourned until April 18.

A spokesman for ROSPA, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "We will have to await the outcome of the coroner's investigation to see if anything can be learned from this unfortunate incident."

Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident and that there are no suspicious circumstances.