A shopper is calling for mobile phones to be banned from supermarkets after being injured twice by chattering shoppers.
Debby McArdle wants Hemel Hempstead’s three major supermarkets – Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco – to take action after being hit in the face by a distracted shopper’s basket and rammed by a trolley.
The 52-year-old said: “People are getting battered while they are doing their shopping.
“They are running the gauntlet to do their shopping,”
The shop manager, from Adeyfield, has discovered she is not the only victim after inspecting the accident books of some supermarkets.
She wants bosses to put up signs telling people to turn their phones off but says meeting her half way with signage urging shoppers to be aware of their surrounding when chatting or texting would be a good start. “To say ‘turn them off when you are shopping and put them on when you go out’ – I would be happy with that, or even to be met half way,” she said. “Sooner rather than later somebody is going to get really hurt.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “While we have no plans to prevent customers from using their phones, we would ask them to be considerate of others while shopping.”
Sainsbury’s said because Debby’s injuries were not sustained at its store it would be inappropriate to comment but added that there is no plan to introduce a mobile policy. Asda did not comment before the Gazette’s deadline.