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Specs shop in sudden shutdown

Simon Thacker
15/12/2005

AN ANGRY customer has slammed an opticians which closed without warning, leaving him unable to retrieve his £200 pair of designer glasses.

Philip Holden, 50, of Somerset Road, Rishton, needed a new pair of glasses after scratching his old ones.

So his brother Paul gave him a pair of his designer Giorgio Armani glasses and Mr Holden took them to Super Specs on Broadway, Accrington, to get new lenses put in.

But after handing over £5 at the counter, Mr Holden was stunned a few days later when he saw the shop had closed down, leaving his glasses trapped inside.

Mr Holden, a caretaker at St Wulstan's Primary School, Great Harwood, said: "I left them there for repair on 14 November and by the following Monday there was a note in the window saying they had closed down.

"I looked through the window but there was no sign of anything. I went back every day and I even put a letter through the letter box, but I haven't heard anything.

"As far as I'm concerned it's stealing and I am very annoyed about what has happened to me. I needed the glasses for driving and for watching television because I am short-sighted."

The shop, which occupied a unit in Accrington's Arndale Centre, is now being investigated by both Lancashire Trading Standards and London estate agents Colliers CRE which sub-lets the building.

A spokesman for Colliers said the firm was still trying to trace David Duane and Sandra Duane, the company's directors.

Julian Edwards, of Lancashire Trading Standards, said: "People should put a complaint in writing and send it to the company's address.

"People can also log an official complaint with us by ringing 01772-533573."