A Tesco shopper is calling for more till staff after struggling to use self service machines, describing them as "inaccessible" and making her "shopping experience physically difficult and overwhelming".
Pat McCarthy, 69, volunteers helping disabled people apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) forms and is a trustee of a local disability network and found increasing difficulty shopping at the chain arguing it has a "replace people with machines policy", the BBC reports.
Pat claims these self-service machines are not accessible for an alarming number of people, and has launched a nationwide petition calling on more till staff to help people with physical difficulties enjoy a better shopping experience in Tesco.
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Her petition for change has amassed a staggering 98,000 signatures in less than a single day of being online in which Pat, from Brentford, has argued "there's all sorts of people affected by the change over to self-service-card-only tills".
The shopper encountered the problems at her local Tesco "mega-store" and claims it was similar across the country with self-service machines taking up three quarters of the tills available instore.
"These new tills are not accessible for people who don't have credit cards and can only use cash or those with little confidence to use these self-service card-only tills - myself included. People such as carers, older people, disabled people with mobility problems or lifting problems have to queue waiting for more than 30 minutes" she wrote on her Change.org petition page.
She said: "I love chatting with the staff, albeit briefly, especially as l live on my own. Talking with human staff is important to me. Now that experience has been taken away from me".
Having to pack her shopping independently, Pat argues the process of self-service is a "physically taxing process", adding: "As an older woman, I can't lift anything heavy, and that goes for many disabled people."
Speaking to the BBC, Tesco said staff were always on hand to help at either type of checkout and added: "Our colleagues and the friendly service they provide are absolutely vital to our stores and will always be on hand to help our customers, whether they are checking out at one of our colleague-operated or self-service checkouts.
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