Sheffield grandmother forced to break isolation and carry her Tesco delivery up nine floors after driver refuses to help

Valerie Ashworth, 75, is isolating alone in her flat in Upperthorpe and is unable to go out to do her shopping due to health conditions and vulnerability to coronavirus due to her age.

Her granddaughter Anna Wilson had been trying to organise for Valerie’s shopping to be delivered for a month when they finally got a slot with Tesco delivery for Sunday, April 26.

When placing the order, Anna says she confirmed with Tesco that her grandmother was on the priority list reserved for elderly and vulnerable people, and explained that Valerie suffers from a tumour, COPD, diabetes, ulcers, high blood pressure and angina attacks, so should not leave her flat.

Anna said: “I left delivery instructions telling the driver to dial 219 on the keypad, ask for Valerie and please deliver to ninth floor and leave outside the door, as my grandmother can not leave her flat, is vulnerable and has many health issues.

“However, when the delivery arrived at her building the driver refused to bring the shopping to my grandmother.

“The driver saw my grandmother and her state when she eventually got to the ground floor and clearly couldn't carry the bags and expressed she shouldn't be out of her home.

“He still left the shopping bags on the ground floor outside the building and refused to enter despite all other delivery drivers and post men delivering to the ninth floor and outside her door.

“My grandmother had to leave her building in her night clothes take a lift down to the ground floor, pressing buttons and risk of other people being in the lift at close proximity with no protection, and then go outside the building and attempt to carry six heavy bags of shopping by herself back up to her flat.”

After Valerie had struggled to take the shopping up to her flat, she rang her granddaughter up in tears.

“This was very traumatic for her,” Anna said. “She couldn't cope with the weight of carrying all the shopping between doors and lifts and felt seven weeks locked indoors to avoid the virus was now jeopardized and completely wasted.

“She said she would have left them if she wasn't so desperate for food.”

Anna contacted Tesco to make a complaint on Sunday, and received a reply on Tuesday evening.

She says Tesco apologised, saying the driver should have delivered to Valerie’s door as instructed, however claimed they were unaware Valerie was vulnerable, despite having said she was on their priority list when the online order was confirmed.

“Nothing was really resolved over the phone. We won't be going back to Tesco,” Anna said.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear that this customer did not get the service they expected from our delivery driver on this occasion.

“We have spoken to the store in question. We are working hard to support vulnerable customers across the country needing online deliveries.”