A 79-year-old great-grandmother has been banned from every Sainsbury's and Argos store in the UK after being accused of abusive and inappropriate behaviour. Rita Seymour, from Hook, Hampshire, is no longer allowed to enter any of the 1,500 stores, including their car parks and petrol stations.
Incident at Hook Sainsbury's
The ban follows an altercation at the Hook Sainsbury's while Mrs Seymour was buying a EuroMillions ticket. She had completed her grocery shopping and requested to purchase lottery tickets multiple times. A staff member told a colleague over a headset that Mrs Seymour had been rude to them. The pensioner admitted to knocking a body-worn camera out of the sales assistant's hand as they attempted to activate it.
The next day, she received a letter stating that her invitation to shop at Sainsbury's and Argos had been permanently withdrawn. Mrs Seymour denies being involved in any other altercations with staff and claims she has been falsely accused.
Claim of bullying
Mrs Seymour described the treatment as bullying. She told Metro: “It’s bullying. I have been treated very badly. My whole routine has been ruined and everything is more difficult now.” She added: “I can’t go to my local Sainsbury’s, which you don’t need as a pensioner. I used to work in customer service, so I know what I am talking about. It is appalling how they behaved. I just wanted a lottery ticket.”
The 79-year-old, who is a grandmother of four and a great-grandmother of two, now must walk 30 minutes to shop at Tesco. She used to spend between £80 and £100 on groceries at Sainsbury's. She said the situation has left her “dumbfounded” and feeling like “a criminal”, and she felt like crying when she left the Hook store.
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 well-being of colleagues and customers always come first.”
