A WOMAN wants greetings cards removed from the shelves of two Blackburn shops after claiming they were obscene.

Margaret Foster said she was horrified to see the Quitting Hollywood cards - which carry cartoons of a sexual nature and strong language - on sale at the two branches of Paperchain in Blackburn Shopping Centre.

Mrs Foster, 65, from the Billinge area of Blackburn, is writing to Paperchain's parent company, Birthdays, to complain.

She said: "They are absolutely disgusting. My grandchildren are getting old enough to be going into shops to buy cards for their friends and I would be horrified if they saw these cards.

"I always buy my cards in that shop but I have told them I won't be going in again." Mrs Foster said she was not a prude and had a "live and let live" attitude but had been very upset by the content of the cards.

Ian Preece, buying director for Birthdays, said they did not wish to offend customers but were simply responding to consumer demand.

He promised to look at Mrs Foster's complaint personally and check with the shops to find out what the general reaction to the cards had been.

"We do not want to offend anyone although inevitably there will be a few customers who do find some of the cards offensive," he said.

He added that the company would also look at moving them away from the more traditional style cards on sale.

No-one at the Essex-based offices of Quitting Hollywood would comment on the matter.

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