A young schoolgirl was reduced to tears after being refused access to use Tesco Express‘s toilet when she was bursting.
Mia Brooks, 5, had made a stop at the supermarket when she was travelling with her mum Sarah and decided to go to the toilet, according to Manchester Evening News.
However, the mum-of-one claims a staff member filling the shelves "bluntly" refused her request to use the facilities, despite her explaining that the youngster is being investigated for autism and was getting more distressed from holding it in.
“Mia was in hysterics and crying and saying ‘I really need the toilet mummy’ and the woman working there could clearly see how distressed and upset she was getting, even my daughter looked at her and said ‘please’,” revealed Sarah.
“Her response was very blunt and she just said ‘no, it’s staff only’. She told us there was a pub across the road, or if we couldn’t use that, then there was a McDonald’s down the road.”
Sarah, 35, said she was "disgusted" with the "rude" response and has complained about the Stockport shop to Tesco.
Along with husband Simon, Sarah and her five-year-old daughter headed home without buying anything.
“We just got back in the car and thought it would be quicker to try to get home by this point,” said Sarah.
“But thankfully we came across a Sainsbury’s with a petrol station and they said ‘there’s a customer toilet right there’.
"We explained what had happened and they said that even if theirs had been a staff toilet and not a customer toilet they would still have let her use it.
“No child should be left in such discomfort. In fact no human being should be left like that if they are desperate. She did end up having an accident and it really upset her."
NHS worker Sarah complained about the issue on Tesco’s Facebook page, but says there was little sympathy shown by fellow customers, report Mirror Online.
She ended up deleting her post because of the negativity. “The response from the public was disgusting,” she continued.
“One person said I should have just pulled my daughter’s pants down and let her pee on the grass. I’m sorry but she’s not an animal, they might have done that back in the day, but it’s humiliating and embarrassing, she’s five years old and she understands these things.”
Sarah said she’s had jobs herself where they have made exceptions for people struggling to get to the loo and feels it’s wrong to deny someone such a basic human right.
“I’m an NHS worker working on the wards and we have patient toilets and staff toilets,” she said.
“If a relative comes to visit they’d have to use the main toilets in the hospital, but if someone was really struggling - say a child or an elderly person with mobility issues - we would let them use the staff toilets and then ask domestics to clean them or do it ourselves.
“If we can do that on an NHS ward with strict rules on infections then I’m sure other places can make allowances.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re really very sorry this happened and the team have been reminded that access to our toilets are given to anyone who needs to use them including children, pregnant and disabled customers.”
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