Grandma issues desperate plea as she's banned from every Sainsbury's in the country

A great grandma has denied being ‘rude’ to the staff at Sainsbury’s after the supermarket bans her from entering all UK stores.

Rita Seymour, from Hook, Hampshire, was told by the chain that due to a ‘number of incidents over time’, she could not ‘enter and shop at all Sainsbury’s or Argos stores, including any adjoining land, petrol stations or car parks owned by them’ again.

Earlier this month, the former customer service worker, 79, said she got into a heated argument with a member of staff while trying to buy a Euromillions ticket.

The mother-of-one, with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said she received no response when asking for a card.

A staff member then said on her headset that ‘this customer is being rude to me’, Rita claims.

Management, meanwhile, accused her of insulting staff and ‘pinching food'.

Rita wants the ban lifted (SWNS)

‘Flailing her arms about’

Rita says store managers started ‘shouting’ and ‘flailing their arms’ before attempting to activate a body-worn camera, which she admits she pushed out of the woman's hand and onto the floor.

“She went to take a picture of me, and I pushed her camera out of her face,” Rita said, insisting that she hadn't done anything wrong.

“I said, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong here, you’re not taking pictures of me’.

“She was flinging her arms about.”

Rita was served a notice when she came back to her local Sainsbury's the next day, which happens to be a five-minute walk from her house.

Sainsbury's said Rita was being 'rude' to staff (Getty Stock Images)

Rita now has to shop at Tesco

She now has to trek 20 minutes to Tesco for her weekly food shop, usually costing between £80 and £100.

Rita, whose husband is disabled, said she wants to ‘clear her name’ because she is ‘not that sort of person, I never cause trouble, I never do any trouble – they’re saying it to get out of everything’.

“I’m not interested in money, but I live five minutes away from the shop and I would like this ban lifted,” she adds.

Sainsbury's response

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: “We want everyone to feel welcome when they shop with us and our colleagues work hard to create a positive in store experience.

“We take any form of abusive and inappropriate behaviour seriously, and following a number of incidents over time, a decision was taken to withdraw this individual’s right to shop at our Hook store.

“This action was not taken lightly, but the safety and wellbeing of colleagues and customers always come first.”