UNDER fire Oak Mall bosses who played pop music instead of observing a respectful silence on Armistice Day have apologised to angry shoppers — but insisted they didn't forget.

The Telegraph told on Monday how furious members of the public phoned our newsroom to express their 'disgust' that the Mall had failed to mark the poignant annual event.

Mall management — who didn't respond in time for our article — yesterday said they 'sincerely apologise' for the glaring omission.

In a statement, they said: "It was not Oak Mall's intention of causing any disrespect.

"The Armistice silence should have taken place on the 11th, it was not our intention to cause any upset.

"The Oak Mall observed a two-minute silence at 11am on Remembrance Sunday."

Asked if they'd forgot about Armistice Day, the Mall responded: "It was not the case of management forgetting about Armistice Day.

"It was a miscommunication on the management office's part.

"We do observe the two-minutes silence on the eleventh and Remembrance Sunday, which was scheduled, but we had recently had a changeover in staff on shift and it was an error made by onsite management not reconfirming with the security staff on shift that day to observe both.

"Again we sincerely apologise for the error and any upset it caused our customers.

"It should not happen again in future years."

Shopper Lisa McIntyre — whose great grandfather Andrew Sommerville Cleary died at Dunkirk — said there was 'no excuse' for the failure.

Another woman told us: "There was an elderly man sitting on one of the benches wearing his glengarry and medals and he was obviously waiting for the two-minute silence."

It was the second time the shopping centre has been caught not marking the Armistice.

The Telegraph told in 2015 how outraged shoppers and armed forces representatives branded Mall bosses 'crass' for playing Christmas music on Remembrance Sunday.