A Bristol woman was left in tears after she was unable to pay for her shopping at Iceland - but a kind customer stepped in and bought her groceries for her. Lou Nyakunu, a maternity assistant from Ashton, was doing her weekly shopping at the supermarket's Food Warehouse on Winterstoke Road on July 22 when she tried to pay for her shopping using a pre-loaded 'Food Club' card.
Iceland customers can apply for the card and it is topped up with up to £75, which is then repaid in instalments of £10 a week. Lou applied for the card after seeing it advertised on Good Morning Britain, but when she tried to pay for her shopping with it, staff inside the shop told her they didn't know what it was and so they couldn't process the transaction.
The 49-year-old told Bristol Live that she had no other way of paying for the shopping at the time, and was left in tears as other customers asked for her to be moved out of the way of the till.
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"The actual experience was so embarrassing. I just don't want someone else to go through that, really being forced to pay by others' means when you've got the card because you don't have other means at that point." However, another customer eventually offered to cover the cost of her shopping, which came to £49.
"A very kind man stepped forward and insisted on paying for my shopping. I tried to stop him and he said no, I'm not letting you go without it, which was really kind. It wasn't a fiver he was chucking my way, it was a fair amount of money. It was a really kind gesture but neither of us should have been in that position."
Lou contacted Iceland to let them know about her experience and they emailed her back to apologise, but did not offer any money as compensation. The email stated: "I'll enclose £0.00 gesture of goodwill with a letter to follow which you can use at any of our stores."
The email also said that Iceland had "spoken to the store manager who will do everything they can to ensure your experience remains an isolated incident", adding: "I'm sorry once again that things didn't go smoothly."
However, when Lou returned to the store on July 28 to try and buy more shopping with the Food Club card, she says staff at the shop were still unable to let her use the card. And Lou said: "The staff were kind and they were embarrassed, but I said to them, it's not your fault, it's from the higher ups.
"But I can't believe that something which was advertised on national TV to prevent foodbank usage and help people who aren't entitled to foodbank vouchers and things like that, and this is the response when I'm actually trying to use it". Iceland has been approached for comment.
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