WHEN eagle-eyed bargain hunter Stuart Lever saw Marks and Spencer armchairs worth £700 on sale for for just 50p each online, he thought it was the deal of the century.

Mr Lever and his wife, Melanie, quickly placed an order for seven of the High Back Richmond recliner chairs — costing a grand total of £3.50, rather than £4,900.

But, as the former Conservative councillor for Astley Bridge was making plans to donate his new chairs to a worthy cause, Marks and Spencer confirmed that the price change had been the result of a “technical error” and it would not be delivering Mr Lever’s order — or any others made for the wrongly reduced price.

Mr Lever said: “I was very disappointed to hear that Marks and Spencer wouldn’t be going through with the order — as far as I’m concerned they should honour the deal without any question.

“They are a big company and they should take the mistake on the chin and pay out, they have already confirmed that they received our order.”

He added that although he will not be pursuing the matter, he hopes others will not take the news “sitting down”.

“If everyone kicked up a fuss, you never know they might end up changing their minds,” he said.

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Mr Lever, aged 45, had planned to find a worthy recipient to donate his arm chairs to. He said: “I had contacted the hospital about possibly giving them to the maternity unit, but obviously that won’t be happening now.”

A Marks and Spencer spokesman confirmed that a technical error meant that for a short period of time on Wednesday, the recliner chairs were incorrectly priced, an error that was corrected as soon as it was spotted.

He also said the chairs would not be sold at 50p and a full refund would be given.

A statement said: “We have contacted customers and apologised for any inconvenience caused.”

A Bolton Council trading standards spokesman said: “When someone makes an order on a website, they are offering a contract and it is within the seller’s rights to accept or reject that contract.

“In cases where there has been a clear mistake, such as the pricing of armchairs at 50p, the seller is able to reject or cancel the order as it was not a genuine contract.”