A mum has hit out at her local ASDA after staff asked her and her young son to leave the store this week.
Leanne Hampson, 39, had visited the supermarket to shop for a birthday cake alongside her four-year-old son Alfie on Thursday (June 23), when staff approached them in the aisle.
Trying to complete her shopping, Leanne shared how Alfie suffers from glue-ear, a condition which causes the middle of the ear canal to fill up with fluid.
Using a hearing aid and also undergoing tests for ADHD, Alfie, who can be "quite loud", had begun to make some "loud screeching noises" while the pair were in the store.
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However, despite his condition, Leanne claimed that a security guard had told her to "either leave the store or control her child", leaving her humiliated.
Visiting the Greyhound Retail Park store in Chester, the mum explained she had "never been so ashamed in her life", and told the ECHO:
“When I was at the checkout, the security guard came over to me. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I’ve never been so ashamed in my life."
On their way out of the ASDA, Leanne shared that they were forced to have a second interaction with the security guard, who gave Alfie a high-five at the exit, commenting, "aw see, you can be quiet".
Hitting out at the treatment they received, the family stated that the chain should have given more consideration on how to treat people with disabilities.
She said: “The whole experience was an absolute shambles. It’s awful to be discriminated against, and I want to make people aware that people have disabled children in this day and age, and it's hard work. For a giant superstore like ASDA, they should be used to this, and for the security guard to come over to me in front of other people - it’s embarrassing and quite shocking.
“I’d like them to just keep an open mind in future and maybe staff need extra training in this area. I do understand that it can be upsetting for other customers, but what am I going to do, put a sticker on his back saying 'I’m sorry about the noise that I make'?”
Following the incident, the mum-of-five, whose four other children are on ADHD medication, lodged a complaint with ASDA, but says she's been "put off" shopping there again. She said: “I do shop around quite a lot and I’ve never had this problem. But to be targeted like that in full view of other people, I felt like I’d robbed something or done something bad.”
However, a spokesperson for ASDA has said colleagues didn't intend to offend Leanne. The company said: "Despite receiving complaints from other customers about her son making loud noises, colleagues at our Chester store decided instead to try and make light of the situation by joking with Leanne and her son.
"If these comments have upset Leanne that was never our intention, and we look forward to welcoming them both back to our store very soon.’’
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