Permanent Ban Across All UK Stores
A 79-year-old great-grandmother has been permanently banned from all Sainsbury's and Argos stores across the UK after what the supermarket chain described as repeated incidents of abusive and inappropriate behaviour towards staff. Rita Seymour, from Hook, Hampshire, received a letter informing her that her invitation to shop at any of the group's 1,500 stores, including their car parks and petrol stations, had been 'permanently withdrawn'. The ban follows an altercation while she was buying a EuroMillions ticket, during which she allegedly knocked a body-worn camera out of a staff member's hand.
Incident Details
Mrs Seymour said she had asked several times to purchase lottery tickets after completing her food shopping when a staff member told a colleague via headset that she had been rude. The grandmother-of-four and great-grandmother-of-two admitted to knocking the body-worn camera out of the shopkeeper's hand as the employee tried to activate it. She denied being a 'troublemaker' and said she was 'dumbfounded' by the ban. '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,' she said. 'I was shaking when I left there; I could have cried. They have knocked my confidence, I felt like hiding away.'
Impact on Daily Life
The ban means Mrs Seymour 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 Tesco instead. The pensioner, who previously worked in customer service, denied being involved in any other altercations with staff at the 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 wellbeing of colleagues and customers always come first.'
