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Carer Stephanie Woods was annoyed her treatment by security staff at Asda Aintree

Carer's anger after being told to join the queue in Asda

Asda said they have designated shopping times for carers in their stores

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Carer buying food at Asda for vulnerable pensioner 'angry' after being told to join the queue

A carer who went to an Asda supermarket during her shift to buy food for a vulnerable pensioner is angry that she was told to join the queue.

Stephanie Woods chose to shop at the Aintree Asda to buy groceries for a Merseyside pensioner at around 11am today.

Stephanie, a mum from Netherton, says she did not have time to join the long queue and showed her identification to the security guard.

She said that when a security guard told her that she had to join the queue she decided to leave. She went to a nearby Tesco where security staff let her bypass the queue.

She said: "When he told me to go to the back of the queue, it looked like a 40 minute wait to me so I decided to get back in my car and to to the Tesco.

"I was a bit embarrassed at first but then just angry. "

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ASDA Supermarket in Aintree Photo by Ian Cooper(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Asda has a designated browsing hour for carers between 8am and 9am on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and a browsing hour between 9am and 10am on Sundays for carers.

A spokesman for Asda said to the ECHO : 'We are really proud and grateful for the fantastic work of carers and NHS staff across the country, which is why we are giving them priority access to our stores at set times during each week so they can get the essentials they need.

"Our colleagues are also working incredibly hard to do a good job for customers in these unprecedented times.’’

Stephanie said: "I take the point about the designated hour for carers but that is for them to buy groceries for themselves.

"I went to the Asda not to shop for myself. I was buying for somebody else as part of my shift."

Stephanie works for Local Solutions and said that a lot of her time has been spent helping vulnerable members of the community.

She said: "Yes the pandemic has made our job a bit more stressful. We have been out shopping for the elderly and other members of the community who are at risk such as the disabled and poorly.

"Fortunately my employer has been very supportive toward their staff during recent weeks."