Elderly couple invited to Asda after Tesco row

10:22am Wednesday 19th December 2007

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AN elderly couple told off by Tesco for spending too much time in the store have been handed an olive branch by one of the supermarket's main rivals, Asda.

Roland Hodgson and his wife Pauline visited Tesco in County Way, Trowbridge in November and got a letter from the car parking management team telling them they had spent too long in the store. Mr Hodgson has a muscle wasting disease and his wife suffers from Parkinson's. They find it very difficult to get around and rarely go out on shopping trips.

Their trip to Tesco was planned as a special family day out with their daughter Georgina Johnston.

After vowing never to return to Tesco and being catapulted into the national media spotlight because of their story, the couple found themselves on the end of a generous offer from a rival supermarket.

Chris Smith, the trading team leader at Asda in Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, has offered the couple a £50 shopping spree in their store.

He said: "I thought it would be a nice idea to officially invite them to come to Asda and shop for free to make up for their unhappy ordeal. They can park for as long as they like while shopping in Asda and we won't send them letters telling them they stayed too long.

"I don't want their experience to leave them with a bad taste in their mouth. Not all supermarkets operate in the same way.

"We welcome disabled shoppers here and try to help them as much as possible. If they need extra help we will do as much as we can to provide them with support."

The Hodgsons' are delighted by the offer. Mr Hodgson said: "What with Christmas coming up we would never turn down an offer like that. It is very kind of Asda to offer us the £50 shopping trip. Funnily enough we have been shopping in Asda ever since the experience in Tesco. We do not plan to go back there after what happened."

The couple said they would be using the money from Asda to make a donation to Age Concern.