Grandma says she feels 'like a criminal' after being banned from every Sainsbury's in the country
A 79-year-old pensioner has been barred for life from every Sainsbury’s in the UK after allegedly being ‘rude’.
Rita Seymour, from Hook, Hampshire, used to go to her local Sainsbury’s once a week to do her food shop.
Staff, however, accused the former customer service worker of being ‘rude’ when she was trying to buy a Euromillions Lottery ticket earlier this month.
Sainsbury's said she behaved ‘inappropriately’ during ‘a number of incidents over time’, as Rita, who spends between £80 and £100 on groceries, denies the other incidents.
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The mother-of-one, with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said she asked the member of staff several times for her lottery tickets but received no response.
She then claims she heard the staff member talking on her headset saying, ‘this customer is being rude to me’.
‘It’s like being a criminal’
Rita claims store managers then 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.
“I am not the guilty party, I wasn’t nasty to her. I’m [nearly] 80 years of age, I wouldn’t start trouble with anybody,” the heart-disease patient, whose husband is disabled, added.
“I’ve been in customer service all my life and I’ve never been spoken to like this.
“It’s really upset me, I’ve done nothing wrong.
“It’s a horrible thing to feel inside, I can’t go in there anymore. It’s like being a criminal.”
‘I felt like hiding away’
When Rita returned the next day to the store, she said she was issued a letter stating: “The invitation to enter and shop at all Sainsbury’s or Argos stores, including any adjoining land, petrol stations or car parks owned by them, is permanently withdrawn.”
The grandma admitted: “I have been so dumbfounded. I was shaking when I left there; I could have cried. They have knocked my confidence, I felt like hiding away, I didn’t know who to turn to make it right.”
As well as fighting the ban, Rita will now have to walk 30 minutes to a Tesco store to do her shop, rather than her usual eight-minute walk from home.
Sainsbury's response
A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said it takes ‘any form of abusive and inappropriate behaviour seriously’.
“We want everyone to feel welcome when they shop with us and our colleagues work hard to create a positive in store experience,” a spokesperson said.
“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.”
Topics: Sainsbury's, UK News
Anish Vij