PEOPLE have been slipping and falling over outside a Worcester charity shop after a mysterious greasy patch appeared.

One woman, who declined to be named, slipped over outside the St Richard’s Hospice charity shop, in The Cross, yesterday when she stepped on the white oil on the pavement.

Some of the volunteers at the charity shop thought the oil could have been cooking oil from a neighbouring fast- food restaurant, but this has been strongly denied by the manager.

The woman who fell was unhurt, although she did not know how well the oil would wash out of her silk top.

She said she called the Hub to warn them that someone could be seriously hurt.

“There were quite a lot of elderly people walking past and I was quite concerned that they would fall and break something,” she said.

“I saw one man go to take a topple, but he managed to stop himself.”

The police were also called, she said.

Volunteers at the shop said the oil had been there since 9am and they put newspapers down to try and stop people from falling.

Rachel Andrews, another charity shop volunteer, said: “It’s like a skating rink. It is extremely irresponsible of whoever did it.

“It could lead to a serious injury for an older person. It’s disgusting.”

One group of women decided to stand outside the shop to warn people about the oil, while workers from Worcestershire County Council arrived at lunchtime to sprinkle granules down to help soak up the spill.

A worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “When you ask people, they say they don’t know what it is, but you can’t tell me that nobody knows.”

Waqar Khan, manager of Chicks Chicken and Pizza, a neighbouring fast-food restaurant, helped clean up the oil, but said the spill had nothing to do with his restaurant.

He said he sold used oil from cooking to be recycled as bio diesel which was collected every two to three weeks, but he said no-one had moved any of the oil recently.

Mr Khan said the person who collects the oil was due to come today. The oil is collected in buckets and then put in large drums where it is sold for around £40 a time.

“We tried to clean it up,” he said. “We were washing in front of the charity shop and trying to help. I don’t think it came from me. It was covering most of the pavement. We tried to wash it so we don’t have any customer slip.

“There has never been a spillage from of our shop. I sell the oil. Why would I put it outside? If I wanted to dump it, I would take it to the dump yard.

“Maybe someone has done it as a deliberate act to make people slip. It is a question to be asked – who has done it?”