Aldi said on Monday it is urgently trying to contact a care worker in Scotland, who has claimed she was turned away from the supermarket when trying to buy food for an elderly client.
Marion Kilmurray posted a plea on Facebook for care workers to be treated as frontline workers, alleging that she was turned back from an Aldi on Sunday in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, when trying to get bread for one of the women she cares for.
In response to the allegation, an Aldi spokesperson denied Kilmurray had been turned away.
“Carers are very welcome at all of our stores and we recognise the vital role they play in our local communities. Mrs Kilmurray wasn’t turned away from our Wishaw store so we are looking into what may have happened and are trying to contact her,” a spokesperson said.
The video was shared more than 100,000 times, but on Monday evening Kilmurray took it down from her Facebook page.
In the clip Kilmurray, sitting in her car in her carer’s blue uniform, claimed: “I went in to get bread for an elderly woman who can’t come out of the house because she has to self-isolate and I can’t get her bread because my uniform doesn’t count.”
In tears she said: “Do you think I want to be out here working? I’m trying to raise a family … I’m risking my life and my family’s life so get a grip and somebody do something about this.”
Aldi previously announced that emergency workers - those in the NHS, police and fire service - will receive priority access at any time of the day with appropriate ID, such as an NHS card. This means they can enter the store as soon as social distancing limits allow.
Aldi stores are also now opening half an hour earlier on Sunday mornings for emergency workers only.
