Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has come under fire with women over its petrol station opening hours - which have been branded 'unsafe'.

Customer Deborah Sampson said the petrol station in Larkfield, Kent, started to sell fuel at 10pm, not 6am as usual.

Sampson, 53, said this made fuel harder to get for women in the area unless they go out at night - which many may feel unsafe doing alone.

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Speaking to The Sun , Sampson said the petrol station told her the move was to help manage footfall.

She said: "I am a single mum, and a carer to my mum, so I spend a lot of the time juggling everything.

“Obviously I am prepared to queue like everyone else to get my fuel, but when I noticed they had changed the opening times I was incensed.

“I just feel that it is discriminating [to] me as a single parent, a mother, a woman in the current climate where women don’t feel safe.

“They expect me to go out, leave my child at home, in the dark at night to just be able to purchase some petrol."

A Sainsbury's spokesperson told the Mirror : “The opening hours at our Larkfield petrol filling station temporarily changed for a few days to ease traffic in the area.

"We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused we are now open again a usual, which is from 6am – 10pm.”

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