Grandmothers banned from shopping centre in dispute over kitchen roll say it's ruined their lives

Two grandmothers that have been banned from a town shopping centre say it has “ruined their lives”. Lillian Clarke and Margaret Yates, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, say they are disgusted with the way that they have been treated by some of the staff in the Britannia Centre.

The pair, who are in their seventies and have to use mobility scooters to get around, said the problem started after they visited Wilkinsons and Mrs Clarke forgot to pay for a pack of kitchen rolls which she had placed at the bottom of her scooter. Mrs Clarke said: “I went back to pay for them the next day when I realised. But next time we went to go in we were accused of stealing. I went to get two scratchcards and as I came away from the till the manager came up to me and said that I was barred.



“Then the next thing is we are barred from the Britannia Centre.” Mrs Clarke said she was told by a staff member at Britannia Centre that she and her friend were “a nuisance on their scooters”. Mrs Yates said: “This ordeal has made me ill. I suffer with my nerves as it is and it upsets me that I can’t go there to do my shopping. We go to all the shops in there and everyone loves us. We’ve not done anything wrong.”

When Mrs Clarke attempted to enter the store in July to get an Argos catalogue she said that she was chased out of the centre. She added: “The man that chased me was like a peeping Tom hiding around the corner and then he just chased me. I can’t go anywhere at all.” Phil Wheeler, manager at Britannia Centre, said: “This applies to anyone - if someone is caught shoplifting from any of the shops in the centre they will be automatically banned. If they try to come back into the centre when they are banned, technically they are trespassing.”