TEENAGER Louise Cowell is finding buying shoes in her hometown an impossible task - because her feet have outgrown shop sizes.

The 14-year-old from Malvern can't find a pair to fit her and will now have to get some specially made.

Louise takes a size seven but her feet are unusually wide.

"Normal width sizes are measured by A to H," said her mother Sarah Cowell. "But if there were such a thing as an I, then Louise would be an I fitting.

"I've been to all the shops in the area and had no luck. I called the British Footwear Association and they sent me a catalogue with 50 names of specialist shops, but out of those only four said that they could maybe help."

Louise has now worn the same pair of shoes to school at The Chase since September.

Nicholas Parry-Billings, head of marketing at the British Footwear Association, said that Louise's feet were largest width fitting he had come across.

Mr Parry-Billings said the average width of women's shoes has risen from C to D since sizes were standardised. He attributed this to the rise in popularity of trainers, which allow the feet to spread out more.