A furious mum says insensitive staff at Tesco told her nine-year-old daughter to wait outside under new supermarket shopping rules in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Wendy Whitehead claims a security guard at the store, who appeared to be in charge of enforcing the rules, asked her to leave her daughter outside the store in Haddington, East Lothian.
The single mum told Edinburgh Live: "It was after 7pm and was a very dark and a wet winter's evening.
"The young man wearing a fluorescent Tesco coat stopped us on entry and asked if we lived in the same household, if we had to shop together and if I could leave my daughter outside the store.
"I was very taken aback at the time and was quick to reply to him that I needed to shop, my daughter was 9-years-old.
"I am a single parent, it was dark and wet outside and I would not be leaving my child outside."
The mum added that she wished she had raised the issue at the time but was shocked and simply headed home after doing her shopping.
According to the Tesco website, they ask that only one person from each household comes in-store to do their shopping, explaining: "This is to reduce the number of people in-store at any one time and help maintain social distancing measures."
However, it does not further clarify on these rules when it comes to parents shopping with their children.
Tesco has apologised over the incident, explaining that it was a "mistake".
A Tesco spokeswoman said: “Since the start of the pandemic, we have focused on ensuring everyone can get the food they need in a safe environment.
"While we’re encouraging our customers to shop alone where possible, we understand that sometimes customers will need to shop with children and they are, of course, welcome to do so.
"In this case, a mistake was made and we’re sorry that the customer wasn’t happy with their experience."
