Major supermarkets were criticised today by parents of disabled children.

Poorly laid out aisles and badly designed trolleys as well as the use of disabled parking spaces by able-bodied customers were among the complaints in a survey.

The research - commissioned by the charity The Family Fund - found more than half of parents questioned felt supermarket shopping was "needlessly difficult or impossible".

Half complained about aisle layouts and about 80 per cent felt trolleys were badly designed and difficult to manoeuvre.

Some 70 per cent of respondents said employees manning childcare facilities were not trained to look after disabled children.

Fellow shoppers were "unfriendly", according to almost three quarters of the parents questioned.

More than 80 per cent had encountered disabled parking bays being used by those without a disability.

However, local shops fared better. Just four per cent of parents said shopping was impossible in smaller stores compared with 16 per cent who said the same of larger ones.

The charitys chief executive Marian Lowe said: "These families should have the right to enjoy as ordinary a life as possible."