Pensioner demands apology from Asda after being banned from the store for running down a closed travelator to get home to his seriously-ill wife
- 3 months ago
A pensioner has demanded an apology from Asda after being banned from the store for running down a closed travelator to get home to his seriously-ill wife.
Full-time carer Andrew Oliver, 68, was attempting to rush out of the store after receiving a call from his wife that she was struggling to breathe, when workers tried to stop him from using the travelator in Sittingbourne, Kent.
The former financial advisor has been a full-time carer for his wife Vanessa since retiring two years ago.
She has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes reduced airflow from the lungs. She also suffers from asthma.
The 69-year-old, who was diagnosed in 2016, was taken to hospital in an ambulance on Christmas Day having not eaten for 72 hours.
She was allowed back to the family home in Bobbing, Kent, on December 28.
On January 7, Andrew visited the store to get some shopping and medical supplies.
He explained: “I stood at the pharmacy for about five minutes but no one paid attention to the people queueing so I got frustrated and went to go get some other things from the shop floor.
“While I was up there, my wife phoned and asked me to come home. She was coughing and struggling to breathe.”
Andrew, who has irregular heart rhythms and is currently being monitored for prostate cancer, continued: “It’s not uncommon for her to call me when I’m out.
“There have been a number of times where I’ve been out shopping and had to push the trolley to one side, run out and go back home. I normally sort her out and go back to the supermarket and carry on shopping.
“On this particular day, I was upstairs and as soon as she called me I rushed back to the travelator. But one of the managers had put a chair in front of it and was stopping people from going down.”
He says it had been stopped because glass had been dropped on it which needed cleaning up.
He added: “I told the worker I needed to get home to my wife who had just got out of hospital and he told me I had to go and use the lift.
“I walked back to where the lift is and there was a massive queue of people standing there with trolleys all trying to get in. You’d be lucky to get three trolleys in there at a time.
“There is a fire escape which was locked and a girl came out. I asked if I could go down the stairs but she told me it was for staff only.
“I went back to the travelator and told the deputy manager he had to let me out. I said ‘you cannot trap me in this store, please find a way to get me out’.
“In the frustration and anxiety of not being able to get out to get home, I did swear at him and I addressed him in a manner he did not appreciate and told him to go **** himself.
“I then ran past the chair and down the travelator and he ran behind me asking what I’d said, so I said it again.”
As he made for the exit, he was told he was now banned from the store.
Having got back home and helped Vanessa with her breathing, Andrew pondered the situation and decided to return to the store on January 10.
Although he fully admits he was verbally abusive, he wanted to make the point that the staff member could have been more flexible having had the situation explained to him.
He approached a security guard and asked whether he was definitely banned.
It was then confirmed by a manager that he won’t be allowed back in the store for four weeks.
He added: “I’m banned. I’m not that bothered about not being able to go back to Asda but I feel that the first member of staff should have and could have evaluated the situation and what I was presenting to him and dealt with it totally differently to how he did.
“He did not appreciate or take into account my reason for getting out or do anything to help me which is why it ended up that way.
“In the frustration and anxiety of not being able to get out to get home, I did swear at him...”
“I feel the store owes me an apology as the assistant manager ignored my reason and desperation to get out of the store and spoke to me like I was a four-year-old.”
He now plans to shop at one of the town’s other supermarkets although he did like Asda because it was only two miles from home.
Its pharmacy is also open on Sundays which was useful – he says he’ll now have to travel 20 minutes to Gillingham for medicine if needed.
Full-time carer Andrew Oliver, 68, was attempting to rush out of the store after receiving a call from his wife that she was struggling to breathe, when workers tried to stop him from using the travelator in Sittingbourne, Kent.
The former financial advisor has been a full-time carer for his wife Vanessa since retiring two years ago.
She has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes reduced airflow from the lungs. She also suffers from asthma.
The 69-year-old, who was diagnosed in 2016, was taken to hospital in an ambulance on Christmas Day having not eaten for 72 hours.
She was allowed back to the family home in Bobbing, Kent, on December 28.
On January 7, Andrew visited the store to get some shopping and medical supplies.
He explained: “I stood at the pharmacy for about five minutes but no one paid attention to the people queueing so I got frustrated and went to go get some other things from the shop floor.
“While I was up there, my wife phoned and asked me to come home. She was coughing and struggling to breathe.”
Andrew, who has irregular heart rhythms and is currently being monitored for prostate cancer, continued: “It’s not uncommon for her to call me when I’m out.
“There have been a number of times where I’ve been out shopping and had to push the trolley to one side, run out and go back home. I normally sort her out and go back to the supermarket and carry on shopping.
“On this particular day, I was upstairs and as soon as she called me I rushed back to the travelator. But one of the managers had put a chair in front of it and was stopping people from going down.”
He says it had been stopped because glass had been dropped on it which needed cleaning up.
He added: “I told the worker I needed to get home to my wife who had just got out of hospital and he told me I had to go and use the lift.
“I walked back to where the lift is and there was a massive queue of people standing there with trolleys all trying to get in. You’d be lucky to get three trolleys in there at a time.
“There is a fire escape which was locked and a girl came out. I asked if I could go down the stairs but she told me it was for staff only.
“I went back to the travelator and told the deputy manager he had to let me out. I said ‘you cannot trap me in this store, please find a way to get me out’.
“In the frustration and anxiety of not being able to get out to get home, I did swear at him and I addressed him in a manner he did not appreciate and told him to go **** himself.
“I then ran past the chair and down the travelator and he ran behind me asking what I’d said, so I said it again.”
As he made for the exit, he was told he was now banned from the store.
Having got back home and helped Vanessa with her breathing, Andrew pondered the situation and decided to return to the store on January 10.
Although he fully admits he was verbally abusive, he wanted to make the point that the staff member could have been more flexible having had the situation explained to him.
He approached a security guard and asked whether he was definitely banned.
It was then confirmed by a manager that he won’t be allowed back in the store for four weeks.
He added: “I’m banned. I’m not that bothered about not being able to go back to Asda but I feel that the first member of staff should have and could have evaluated the situation and what I was presenting to him and dealt with it totally differently to how he did.
“He did not appreciate or take into account my reason for getting out or do anything to help me which is why it ended up that way.
“In the frustration and anxiety of not being able to get out to get home, I did swear at him...”
“I feel the store owes me an apology as the assistant manager ignored my reason and desperation to get out of the store and spoke to me like I was a four-year-old.”
He now plans to shop at one of the town’s other supermarkets although he did like Asda because it was only two miles from home.
Its pharmacy is also open on Sundays which was useful – he says he’ll now have to travel 20 minutes to Gillingham for medicine if needed.