Woman with Covid-19 symptoms collapses in B&M but customers told to 'keep queuing'

A B&M store is under fire after shoppers were told to continue queuing to pay as paramedics tended to woman who collapsed in the aisles with coronavirus symptoms.

The elderly woman remained on the floor for around 90 minutes as the store in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, emptied and paramedics gave her medical attention

She was then taken to the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in an ambulance.

But concerned staff say the response from B&M was woefully inadequate given the potential risk to customers amid the ongoing pandemic, reports Grimsby Live.

The staff claim customers were asked to queue at the tills and pay for their shopping before leaving and then an inadequate clean up was carried out after the incident.

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Staff were also allegedly told to re-open for the last 30-minutes of trading after the patient was taken away.

The woman collapsed as she shopped at around 4.20pm on Saturday and an ambulance was called to the scene for her safety.

When paramedics arrived, she told them that she had  coronavirus symptoms  and a test showed she had a high temperature.

A large number of customers were still in the store before she was taken to hospital.

Staff members have contacted  GrimsbyLive  unhappy with how well the store responded to the incident.

They claim the popular shop was not thoroughly cleaned following the incident, only mopped in the area where the woman, who was with her husband, collapsed.

The staff say no attempt was made to clean other areas where the couple had been while in the store, or check to see if she had picked up items and put them back.

Senior management at B&M then instructed the store to reopen once they had mopped the floor, as they still had 30 minutes left before they were meant to close.

The store has reportedly only had its usual end-of-day cleaning since then, which has concerned members of staff.

Speaking about what happened, one staff member said: "It was around 4.20pm on Saturday, we had an elderly woman who was shopping with her husband when she collapsed.

"We have these questions about coronavirus that we have to ask customers at the moment. At first she told us no to all of them.

"But, because of her fall, we had to call for an ambulance anyway, and when she was asked the same questions we had asked her, she said yes to all of them.

"She must have realised how serious the situation was, and her temperature was sky high when it was taken, so ambulance staff told us to close the store down so they could take her away safely.

"After contacting our area manager to find out what to do, he said to clean up the shop where she had been and reopen again.

"We already had a busy day of trade, and she was on the floor for 90 minutes, so for us to be told to reopen for 30 minutes worth of trading was a joke.

"Also, the original announcement over the Tannoy was encouraging people to head to the tills and pay for their items before leaving, rather than just asking them to leave immediately."

When it came to cleaning the Grimsby store, one staff member felt that it was not done to a safe level.

They said: "We just cleaned the area where she fell and that was it. She was on the floor for 90 minutes, but also had shopping, too, which her husband went and paid for while his wife was being treated.

"But we never checked how long she was in the store for, or where she walked or if she picked anything up and put it back.

"Some of the staff are concerned for our welfare as employees, but we know what happened and can clean our hands all the time, customers don't know when coming into the store.

"We also had management try to downplay the situation by saying her temperature was 37.2 degrees, which doesn't follow up with what the paramedics were saying at the time. Several staff members all heard them comment about it.

"The woman, thankfully, was wearing a mask when in the store, so there is good chance she may have lessened the risk, but her husband was not wearing one, and could well have been asymptomatic.

"But we shouldn't be taking the risk and leaving it up to the customers to stay safe, we should have cleaned the store thoroughly.

"We've just been left in the dark as to whether she ended up having it, too, so staff are pretty anxious about it."

A staff member has questioned reopening the store immediately after the old woman left, and the message it sends to staff and customers.

They said: "I'm just stunned we were told to reopen for 30 more minutes before closing when she left and had cleaned the spot where she was lying.

"It's just pure corporate greed, and we had already been incredibly busy all day, it just really wasn't necessary.

"I just hope the old woman is okay too, we've not heard anything about it and the whole situation has been handled very badly."

A spokesperson for East Midlands Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 4.31pm on 23 May to a medical emergency at B&M Bargains, Victoria Street in Grimsby.

"The caller reported a medical emergency. We sent an ambulance and one patient was taken to Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital."

When approached for guidelines regarding customers collapsing in store, the British Retail Consortium said that they did not have any specific guidance, but recommends stores follow government advice on how to decontaminate an area after a suspected Covid-19 case.

This includes thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces a symptomatic person has came in contact with.

B&M declined to comment.