Tesco cancels delivery to disabled mother in 'bad area'

Supermarket giant Tesco was forced to cancel deliveries to an area - leaving a disabled mother without her groceries - because it was deemed too dangerous for its staff.

ME sufferer Christine Barnes, from Brickwell Court, Northampton, relied on deliveries from her nearby Tesco store for herself and her son Jake, who suffers from severe autism.

But after she struggled to place an order recently, it emerged her address had been blocked by the company, leaving her unable to get her groceries delivered.

Today the 44-year-old said after repeated phone calls to Tesco, she was told her road had been blacklisted because she lived in "a bad area".

She said: "We've used the Tesco delivery service pretty much since it started and have always had it delivered to our address here, for the past 10 years. Tesco is less than half a mile away. It is our local shop.

"We rely on the delivery service because of our health problems. They are also the only store we can get everything we need from.

"We get a lot of gluten and dairy-free products and we can get it all from Tesco. If I have to go somewhere else I have to try a few different stores.

"We've never had a problem but then suddenly it just wouldn't work when I tried to order the shopping."

Mrs Barnes said she was surprised to hear the area had been blacklisted because of problems.

"I was quite upset really," she said, "I don't think we live in a particularly bad area."

She claimed the store had also continued to deliver to neighbours just a few doors down, but said she just wanted the situation resolved so she could start getting her shopping delivered again.

Today, Tesco said the measure had been taken to protect its staff, after several fell victim to attacks in the area.

A spokesman said: "A number of Tesco staff were subjected to attacks in the area and that is why the decision was taken to temporarily suspend deliveries to the addresses.

"We have to take the safety and security of our staff very seriously and we took the decision not to deliver to that area."

He said now Mrs Barnes had alerted the company to her situation, her address had been unblocked, adding: "For the customer concerned we have apologised for the temporary inconvenience.

"If other customers come to us we can look at that as well."

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman said none of the incidents had been reported to them and although they were now aware of the situation, could not comment on it.