Morrisons has come under fire after staff at one if its supermarket stores ignored a customer who suffered a stroke for more than two hours, before calling the police because they thought she was drunk.
Pauline Whitehouse was shopping at the Morrisons store in Willenhall, the West Midlands, with her twin daughters Mia and Rhiannon on July 16 when she suffered the paralysing attack.
After being slumped in a chair in the supermarket’s café for two-and-a-half hours she was then asked to leave by staff as the store was closing.
But as the seriously ill 53-year-old struggled to drive out of the car park a security guard called the police because he thought she was drunk, due to her “erratic driving”.
Mrs Whitehouse managed to make it home by driving at 5mph and was immediately taken to hospital by her shocked husband Paul.
“I don’t remember most of that shopping trip because of the stroke but when my 11-year-old daughters explained how I was treated, I was shocked,” she said. “No one asked if I was OK but there was clearly something wrong with me.”
The mum-of-nine received an apology from Morrisons and £30 in shopping vouchers as compensation, which she described as “a real slap in the face”.
“I’m really disgusted with Morrisons and the way they have handled the whole affair,” she added.
A spokesman for the grocery retailer said: “Our cafe assistant had enquired whether she could be of assistance but unfortunately didn’t recognise the signs of a stroke, which can often be difficult to interpret.”
“We have now talked to our staff about the signs to look for.”
