Demand for action against employee who refused to serve 'help for heroes' customer

In the week before Remembrance Sunday and as many people throughout the UK are buying poppies, many Rochdale residents are demanding action against an ASDA employee who refused to serve a customer wearing a ‘Help for Heroes’ wristband.

Many local people have said that they will boycott the Rochdale store following the incident, and groups have been set up on the social networking website Facebook encouraging people to protest outside the store.

Help for Heroes is a non-political charity dedicated to helping wounded service personnel and has over a million supporters. An ASDA spokesperson has stated that the wristbands in question were sold in ASDA stores.

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen is backing the campaign for action and has written to ASDA Chief Executive Andy Bond to find out what is being done about the incident, and what action will be taken to ensure nothing like this happens again.

He said: “I was shocked to hear about the incident in our local supermarket. Help for Heroes is an important national charity which does amazing work for our armed forces.

“We must ensure that incidents like this are ended immediately. At this time of remembrance, with services being held all over the country this Sunday, and millions of people wearing poppies, it is vital that people are able to show support for our armed forces. I call on ASDA to ensure that this incident is dealt with so that other shoppers do not suffer the same treatment.”

Wardle resident Linda Phillips, who has stated she will never shop in Asda again, said: “The actions of the people involved were disgusting. The daft thing about it is Asda is part of Walmart. It was the USA who invaded and it is also an American company that these people work for and pay their wages. I would have thought if they were so offended by the situation, they would think twice about working there.”