The Lancashire Evening Post reported this week a £3,000 Segway PT has been imported from America for trials at the Fishergate Shopping Centre in the city centre.

Guards are undergoing training on the device and there is the promise of more Segways if they prove popular with the public.

But the vehicle is limited to a top speed of just 5mph, and shoppers have accused the centre of wasting money on a machine which travels no faster than an average walker.

One said: "He'd be better off with a good pair of Nike trainers."

The centre has claimed the machine will make security guards more visible and will allow security guards to tend to shoppers in need of assistance more quickly.

But the public, it seems, disagree. Brian Pitts, 40, who lives off Fishergate Hill, Preston, said: "I don't really understand the need to spend thousands on a device which allows you to travel at about the same speed as you can walk.

"If someone runs off from a shop with something they are going to have to abandon the machine and run after them, and then what happens to it?

"You can imagine a situation where people are creating a deliberate distraction to get him on foot and leave the Segway."