A pensioner claims she was thrown into the air by an electric shock from a supermarket’s sliding doors.
Phyllis French, 83, was rushed to hospital with burn marks on one leg, and bruises and cuts, after the incident at an M&S Foodhall.
But her family said they have been left angry by the retail giant claiming the doors at the store in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, were not faulty and Phyllis must have fallen.
Phyllis said: “I felt something at my foot– it was a strange feeling that went right up my leg.
"Next I was lifted off my feet and thrown back out of the doors on to the ground.
“Two men ran up to help. They kept asking me what had happened and I didn’t know.
“At hospital the doctor said there was a burn on my leg. I was cut and bruised from the fall. I’m still having problems with my ankle and shoulder.”
Phyllis, who had been dropped off by her daughter Audrey, had been waiting inside thestore to be given a trolley by a staff member.
Audrey saw the incident from the car park.
She said: “It was as if someone had picked mum up and thrown her outside. At first I thought she was dead. The force of it could have killed a child or someone with a heart condition.”
Audrey, a healthcare professional, said staff at the scene admitted there had been issues with the electric doors but M&S later denied that was the case.
Audrey, 59, from Bothwell, said: “We have been made to feel disrespected. The company painted us as individuals who have falsified information and embellished truths.”
The family are now considering legal action against M&S, which has been unable to find CCTV of the incident in July 2020.
Phyllis, who has had two hip replacements, decided to speak out after a letter arrived last week from M&S’s lawyers which insisted there was no fault with the doors.
As part of their legal claim, Phyllis, from Uddingston, and Audrey have submitted pictures of what they have been told was cabling work connected to the electric doors not long after the OAP’s ordeal.
Audrey said: “Staff confirmed an engineer was called to the store and maintenance work was carried out on the doors.
"Despite this, Marks & Spencer has maintained that my mother stumbled and fell.
"That is not conducive with NHS diagnosis and treatment, nor the eyewitness reports from staff.
“Had my mother suffered a fall, there would have been no need for an engineer to carry out repairs on the entrance doors.”
Audrey said the family requested CCTV footage but were told the equipment was faulty and the incident had not been caught on tape.
She added: “M&S has a duty to protect people using its stores but failed abysmally.”
In a letter to Audrey, solicitors Keoghs said M&S denied being at fault.
It stated: “Our detailed and thorough investigation revealed that no defect was found with the doors. An engineer confirmed there were no faults with sensors and the doors were fully functional.”
M&S refused to comment further.
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