Northampton Aldi customer 'shocked and appalled' by number of customers and staff not wearing masks properly

An Aldi customer has raised concerns about staff and customers not wearing masks properly after an 'appalling' visit to a Northampton branch.

Miriam Adams was shocked to see at least seven shoppers wearing their face coverings incorrectly in the Earl Street supermarket on Tuesday afternoon (January 12).

The 62-year-old pensioner from Abington also saw an employee without a mask or visor, which are mandatory indoors for workers and customers.

In an email to Aldi, seen by the Chronicle & Echo, she said: "I estimate that approximately one quarter of customers in the store were not wearing their masks correctly.

"I was appalled and shocked - not only are the customers being put at risk, but so are your staff who are arguably at greater risk than customers as they are spending many hours in this environment.

"Surely you have a duty of care to both staff and customers."

Ms Adams pointed out to one group of three adults that they were not wearing their masks over their noses - she said they did pull them up but they were clearly not pleased by her intervention.

The retired safeguarding lead then informed a young woman that her mask was under her chin while talking to someone on the phone, who did not pull her's up.

A member of staff then smiled broadly at her, which she could see because she had no face covering, while another group of three people had their noses poking out of their masks at the tills.

Ms Adams said: "I sympathise with shop staff and with police who are trying to manage the situation.

"These things aren’t easy when incidents are coming at you thick and fast; and mistakes will be made, despite the best of intentions.

"I’m very lucky. I no longer work and my only vulnerability is my age, but nevertheless I don’t relish my weekly shopping trip.

"I dread discovering that I have unwittingly passed Covid on to an elderly or vulnerable person.

"The only enemy here is the coronavirus. We’re all struggling and we all want and need this to be over as soon as possible."

Since yesterday, all Aldi customers are required to wear a mask unless they are medically exempt and anyone who refuses will be barred from entering.

For a limited period, customers that forget to bring a mask will be provided with one, free of charge.

The supermarket will also be reminding customers that they should shop alone if they can, to reduce the number of people in store.

Aldi UK chief executive Giles Hurley said: “The safety of our colleagues and customers is our number one priority.

"Wearing a mask is mandatory for everyone that shops at Aldi, except for the small number of people who have a medical exemption.”

Aldi was the first supermarket to introduce electronic traffic light systems across all of its stores to manage customer numbers.

It continues to operate a number of strict safety measures such as screens at checkouts and a recent doubling of sanitisation stations in stores.