M&S staff refuse to push cancer sufferer's trolley to her car 'because we are not insured to cross the road'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 05:44 EST, 16 April 2010

A cancer sufferer was denied help pushing her shopping trolley to her car because Marks & Spencer staff said they were not insured to cross the road.

Catherine Lennard, 53, who has undergone gruelling chemotherapy to fight the disease, visited the store with her elderly mother after having a blood test at London’s Royal Free Hospital.

The mother of two spent more than £100 on food and asked the check-out assistant for help taking her shopping to her car because she was feeling weak due to treatment.

Catherine Lennard

'Shocked': Catherine Lennard, pictured with her mother Ann Robson outside M&S; in South End Green, was refused help by store staff

However, Mrs Lennard was told that no one would be able to assist as staff at the South End Green branch, in Hampstead, were not insured to cross the road to get to where her car was parked.

Mrs Lennard said: ‘I couldn’t believe it.

‘I said, “even if you’re not insured you can use your humanity because I’m afraid I’m having chemotherapy and my mother has had a back operation so she can’t push the trolley either”.

‘But she refused.

‘It was a momentous moment for me to do a big shop for my family because I haven’t done one for two months.

‘I was really upset afterwards and I felt awful. Life is tough enough as it is without this sort of thing.’

Mrs Lennard, of Chalk Farm, north London, took her complaint to Stuart Rose, executive chairman of the up market high street store.

She spoke to a ‘sympathetic’ secretary, who called her back to confirm staff at the South End Green store were not insured to help customers push their trolleys.

‘She was very nice and understanding when I spoke to her initially. But then she phoned me back and gave me the same old claptrap,’ Mrs Lennard said.

‘She said I could always go to one of the other Marks & Spencer stores such as Brent Cross. How insensitive was that?  

‘The Marks & Spencer in South End Green is right next to the Royal Free so a lot of customers must be patients who need help with their shopping.

‘I was shocked to be told that I should go to Brent Cross because isn’t the South End Green store meant to be for local people?’

An assistant at the M&S branch in Pond Street said: ‘We’ve been told we’re not allowed to push trolleys by our store manager because we’re not insured.’

A Marks & Spencer spokesman said: ‘This is not M&S policy and is an error at store level, which has been addressed.

‘We are sorry Mrs Lennard felt let down by the service she received at our store in Hampstead.

‘We do endeavour to go the extra mile for our customers whenever possible, but we clearly failed to deliver on this occasion.

‘Mrs Lennard is a valued customer and we will be contacting her to apologise and do all we can to restore her faith in M&S.’

 

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