A new face mask vending machine has been installed at West Quay shopping centre.

The company behind the new machine, UK Face Masks Direct, has been installing these machines up and down the country.

The appliance is located in the entrance to the shopping centre and company director, Sam Leeney said: "It's a big blue machine, you can't miss it."

Sam, who is a student at The University of Nottingham, started the business towards the start of the pandemic back when he was selling camera equipment.

He noticed that some of the businesses he was buying from, were adapting their production lines in order to produce PPE.

"I bought some masks and started selling them to the general public and to hospitals and schools for the same price as I had purchased them for."

As the lockdown was eased and people started heading back to the shops, Sam had the idea of the vending machines.

He added: "There's always a slight worry that people are going to think you are profiting, but we try to charge the same in the machines as you would have to pay in a supermarket.

"The shopping Malls really like them because if someone comes in and forgets to wear a mask, rather than turning them away, they can just send them to the machine, so it saves a lot of hassle for security guards."