A 79-year-old great-grandmother got a lifetime ban from every Sainsbury’s store and said, ‘I was shaking when I left, I could have cried’

Rita Seymour, a 79-year-old great-grandmother from Hook, Hampshire, says she has been left feeling like a “criminal” after receiving a lifetime ban from every Sainsbury’s and Argos store in the UK following a dispute with staff. According to Dexerto, the incident began during a routine weekly shop when Seymour was trying to buy a Euromillions ticket.

She repeatedly asked a staff member for the ticket before hearing them say over a headset that “this customer is being rude to me.” The situation escalated quickly, with store managers “shouting” and “flailing their arms” before attempting to use a body-worn camera to record the encounter. Seymour admitted knocking the camera from a manager’s hand but maintains she had done nothing wrong.

“I am not the guilty party, I wasn’t nasty to her. I’m nearly 80 years of age, I wouldn’t start trouble with anybody,” she said. “I’ve been in customer service all my life and I’ve never been spoken to like this.” Seymour also claims staff accused her of stealing her shopping before she produced her receipt and was escorted out of the store.

She returned the next day to a ban letter

When she returned the following day, she was handed a letter informing her that she had been banned from all Sainsbury’s and Argos stores in the UK, including any gas stations or car parks owned by the chain. “I have been so dumbfounded. I was shaking when I left there, I could have cried,” she said. Lifetime bans over relatively minor disputes have made headlines elsewhere too, including an influencer banned for life from Six Flags after smuggling chicken nuggets onto a rollercoaster.

Seymour, who says she has shopped at the Hook branch for years, disputed Sainsbury’s claim that the ban followed “a number of incidents over time.” “I would never tell lies. I have lived here 45 years, and I haven’t got a blemish on my character,” she said. “I am not a troublemaker, but to be treated like that, I won’t give in.”

Sainsbury’s defended its decision in a statement, saying the company takes “any form of abusive and inappropriate behaviour seriously” and that the decision “was not taken lightly” but that “the safety and wellbeing of colleagues and customers always come first.”

Seymour now has to walk around 30 minutes to her nearest Tesco instead of visiting the Sainsbury’s just eight minutes from her home. She says she is hoping to have the ban overturned. In the meantime, she has continued to speak publicly about the incident, saying she wants her side of events understood even as the company stands by its decision.