A BROKEN escalator which traders claimed was driving away their customers has reopened.

Market traders told The Sentinel on Friday how the escalator down from the Potteries Shopping Centre in Hanley to the town's indoor market had been out of order for several days.

Although shoppers still had two other ways of entering the market, traders said business was down around 25 per cent.

But the escalator was back in working order in time for the weekend's shoppers.

A spokesman for the shopping centre said the breakdown was due to people using prams and pushchairs on the escalators, even though signs ask them not to.

There were 15 stairs that needed replacing and new ones had to be ordered from Germany.

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