BASILDON Eastgate Shopping Centre turned purple to support Purple Tuesday as part of the UK's first ever disability shopping day.

Purple Tuesday is an awareness initiative which aims to support those with both visible and non-visible disabilities during their shopping at centres and retailers.

On November 13, Eastgate showed support for the campaign, turning some of the centre lighting purple for the event. Along with this, the security and cleaning staff were also dressed in purple to show their support. The staff were on hand in the shopping centre to offer additional assistance to those who require it. They are trained and registered as Disability Confident Committed Level 1 and will progress to the next level of training in 2019.

Music wasn't played during the first couple of hours of the day, in respect of those with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). These individuals struggle to process sounds in the normal way.

Eastgate also promoted it's free shop mobility scheme in the area outside of Starbucks. Shoppers were able to register and use one of the 15 motorised scooters in the shopping centre and Basildon Town Centre for free.

Ian Clark, manager at Eastgate, said: "We’re delighted to be supporting the Purple Tuesday campaign to promote better accessibility and support for disabled shoppers. The team at Eastgate is constantly striving to make the shopping experience for all our shoppers better."