Local disability campaigners have branded the destruction of a mobility chair in a Largs supermarket as 'shocking'.

The accessible trolley chair was burnt by youths at Morrison's store last Monday evening, provoking an angry reaction from the local community.

The specialist chair, which is also used for young children too, had to be destroyed afterwards because of the vandalism

There was also outrage on community web forums in relation to the act of vandalism at the Irvine Road premises.

Morrison's Supermarket told the 'News' that they were deeply disappointed, and have reported the matter to the police.

Cllr. Alex Gallagher said: "Like any decent and sensible person, I would abhor this kind of action.

"It is very disappointing. "These youths need to be tracked down and given suitable warnings that this treatment is not acceptable in any shape of form. "Disabled people have fought for a long time to get decent facilities, so it is with real regret that we have people in the community who could behave this way.

"These things tend to be specialist equipment and are expensive things to replace."

'Access All Areas' correspondent Zoe Maclean, who has written many articles for the 'News' on improving disabled access and facilities in the area, said: "I was shocked by this, like so many others have been.

"It is disappointing as sometimes it is a battle, sadly, to get disabled facilities in general.

"I don't know what you could say to the youths involved that would get through to them, but it is very upsetting to see things like this can happen, and I hope something like this never happens again."

Largs Police are continuing to investigate the matter.

Sergeant Sharon Kerr of Largs Police said: "We have allocated resources to try and find out what has happened, and whether there are any positive lines of enquiry, currently there are none as yet.

"We would appeal to the public to contact the police on '101' if they have any more information.

"The matter is currently under investigation.

"We believe it happened around 8pm on Monday. There had been issues in the store earlier in the evening with some young people and we don't know as yet whether it was connected or not but we are looking into this.

"It is a very unusual crime for the local area, and hope it is a one-off."