Letter: The trials of shopping while disabled

Letter: Further to your recent article on disabled travel, I would like to bring to everyone's attention that the journey to any shopping centre is just the beginning of the shopping nightmare for disabled shoppers who have to rely on disability scooters or wheelchairs.

I have recently visited Telford town centre, Merry Hill and Cheshire Oaks, as well as smaller shopping centres, and have left disappointed and exhausted after trying to get into and around the shops.

Retailers pack so much merchandise into the space available that there is hardly room for customers to get in at all, especially if they have the misfortune to need the use of disabled equipment.

Shopping centres are usually very good at loaning scooters and wheelchairs but what use are they if you can't get into the shops to make purchases?

I would like to see every manager of every shop being made to use one of these scooters in their premises so that they are aware of the difficulties. Life as a disab-led person is difficult enou-gh without these added agg- ravations. Shop managers please take note, especially with Christmas coming.

Susan Lewis

Newport