A 79-year-old great-grandmother has been permanently banned from every Sainsbury's and Argos store in the United Kingdom after what the supermarket chain described as inappropriate behaviour towards staff. Rita Seymour, from Hook, Hampshire, said she was accused of 'pinching' items and was subsequently barred from all 1,500 stores nationwide, including their car parks and petrol stations.
Incident at the checkout
The ban stems from an altercation that occurred while Mrs Seymour was buying a EuroMillions ticket. She had asked several times to purchase lottery tickets after completing her food shopping. A staff member then told a colleague via headset that Mrs Seymour had been rude. The pensioner admitted to knocking a body-worn camera out of the shopkeeper's hand as the employee tried to activate it.
The following day, Mrs Seymour received a letter stating that her invitation to shop at Sainsbury's and Argos stores had been 'permanently withdrawn'. This means she can no longer use her local superstore in Hook, where she typically spends between £80 and £100 on groceries. She now faces a 30-minute walk to the nearest Tesco instead.
Denial and distress
Despite the ban, Mrs Seymour, who previously worked in customer service, denied being a 'troublemaker' and said the decision left her 'dumbfounded'. She also denied any other altercations with staff at the store. 'It's really upset me, I've done nothing wrong,' she said. 'It's a horrible thing to feel inside, I can't go in there anymore. It's like being a criminal.'
'I have been so dumbfounded. I was shaking when I left there; I could have cried,' she added. 'They have knocked my confidence, I felt like hiding away, I didn't know who to turn to make it right.'
Sainsbury's response
A spokesperson for Sainsbury's 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.'
