More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A determined dad who launched a one-man mission to protest against the abuse of supermarket workers is still demonstrating five weeks on.
John Lawrence feels not enough is being done in regard to staff health and safety during the pandemic and has been outside the Asda in Chatham over the past month.
The 66-year-old said: "I'm now protesting three times a week and I do think I'm starting to get somewhere.
"I was on the phone to health and safety last week for 52 minutes and they told me they had been to the store and hadn't noticed any problems.
"However, I told them they they need to visit during busy weekend hours and at bank holidays as the store goes way over its 750-customer limit.
"Asda Chatham is still not using the traffic light system and they let in 800-900 customers at a time sometimes.
"I'd like to see something done about this and that is why I'm protesting."
Although some people have disagreed with John, he said he has received a good response from the general public and has even been gifted coffee and sweets from passerbys.
An Asda spokesman said: "We have security colleagues and Covid safety marshals at the front of our stores to remind customers of the need to wear a face covering and adhere to Covid safety guidelines.
"We are grateful for the extraordinary efforts of our colleagues throughout the pandemic and we ask that all customers treat them with respect and comply with all the guidelines laid out by the government.
"We do not tolerate abuse towards our colleagues and where an incident escalates we will not hesitate to call the police.’’
The spokesman also added that they monitor the number of customers in their stores and at no point has the Chatham store ever been near to the capacity permitted for everyone in the store to maintain social distancing.
To see the measures in place at Asda stores click here.
