Aldi ‘refused’ to let mother buy two trolley loads of nappies, sanitary pads, and wet wipes to send to refugees on the Ukrainian border because it ‘didn’t have enough stock’
- Agata Casey said Aldi refused to let her buy bulk items for Ukrainian refugees
- She claimed she was told to put items back in the store in Southend-on-Sea
- She said she was buying nappies, sanitary pads and wet wipes for donations
A mother has alleged that Aldi refused to let her buy trolley loads of nappies, sanitary pads and wet wipes to send to refugees on the Ukrainian border because it ‘didn’t have enough stock’.
Agata Casey, 36, of Southend-on-Sea, said she decided to buy supplies to send to Ukrainian refugees at the Polish border after seeing Facebook messages about a local restaurant collecting donations.
The mother-of-two, who is a Polish national, said she went with her friend to Aldi in Southend-on-Sea at around 3pm on Sunday to buy nappies, sanitary pads and wet wipes to send as donations.
Ms Casey said they had only picked up certain sizes of nappies and had been careful to leave stock behind for other people, but claimed they were told they were not allowed to buy ‘all of the stock’.
Aldi claimed they offered to bulk order stock for Ms Casey to collect in two days’ time, saying they try to allow customers to buy ‘as much stock as possible’ .
Video footage, taken by Ms Casey’s friend, allegedly shows an Aldi worker packing nappies back into a trolley to put back on the shelves due to ‘shortages’ in the UK.
Agata Casey said she and her friend were told they couldn’t buy large quantities of nappies, sanitary pads and wet wipes for Ukrainian refugees at Aldi in Southend-on-Sea on Sunday
Ms Casey claimed she and her friend were only allowed to buy £98.70 worth of items, while the video shows another trolley full of items to be returned to the shelves instead.
An Aldi spokesperson said: ‘Our colleagues try to allow customers to buy as much stock as possible while making sure that there is still enough stock for other shoppers.
‘We are committed to helping those in need and offered to bulk order stock specifically for Ms Casey to collect in two days’ time.’
Speaking about the incident, Ms Casey said she was made to feel like a ‘rat’ and that she was ‘looting’ for wanting to buy donations for Ukrainian refugees.
She told MailOnline: ‘I was asked like a rat to put this back on the shelves because I am looting Aldi in Southend for Ukrainian people and how dare I. This is how it felt.’
The dental hygienist said she decided to buy items for Ukrainian refugees after seeing a post on Facebook page Polacy W Southend-on-Sea.
Video footage, taken by Ms Casey’s friend, allegedly shows an Aldi worker packing nappies back into a trolley (pictured) to put back on the shelves due to ‘shortages’ in the UK
The post said a lorry will be travelling to Poland on Saturday filled with stock to help refugees and urged people to drop off donations at Polish restaurant Domowe obiady U Babci.
The post said items needed as donations included long-life food, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags and hygiene accessories.
Ms Casey said she asked her friend to go to Aldi with her to buy nappies, sanitary pads, toothbrushes and wet wipes that they could drop off at the restaurant as donations.
Ms Casey said she wanted to do what she could to help during the ‘biggest crisis of our lifetime’, adding that her parents, who live in Kraków, are taking in refugees in a bid to help.
She said: ‘I’m reading these articles about the mum feeding baby underground and my heart is broken.
‘The least I can do is get some nappies, some wet wipes, some sanitary pads, some toothbrushes.’
Ms Casey said she and her friend were conscious about leaving some stock behind for other people and claimed they only tried to buy a handful of nappy sizes – newborn, size two, size four and size six.
Speaking about the incident, Ms Casey said she was made to feel like a ‘rat’ and that she was ‘looting’ for wanting to buy donations for refugees. Pictured: Aldi in Southend-on-Sea
She explained: ‘We bought two or three of each sizes, but I said the newborn sizes, lets not buy all of the sizes because the newborns will hopefully have some nappies from the hospital, then a size two is good.
‘I said skip the size three because it’s similar to size two – its a crisis, I’m sure they will make do – let’s buy some size fours and some sixes.
‘Because I said without the size five it’s doable, there’s limited spaces in the car, these sizes will be good.’
She claimed she could sense ‘tension’ around her from customers and staff after they loaded up the trolley, saying that she could have been buying that much stock because she had ‘five kids’.
Ms Casey said when they were queuing for the till, there was an announcement calling a manager, saying she initially thought something had happened with the cashier and she would have to move queue, before realising it was because of her purchase.
She claimed that she was told by the manager that she could not buy the amount of stock they had selected and would have to put some back on the shelves.
She explained: ‘I’m thinking ‘oh my god I always pick the wrong queue, thinking I’m going to have to queue up for a long time now because something has happened with the cashier’, you know how it is.
Agata Casey, 36, of Southend-on-Sea, said she decided to buy supplies for Ukrainian refugees at the Polish border after seeing a Facebook post about a local restaurant collecting donations
‘But then my heart is sinking and I’m thinking ‘for goodness sake I hope this isn’t about my nappies in that trolley’. But yes, it was about the nappies in my trolley.’
Ms Casey said she hadn’t bought any canned food, baby powder or other products, and had only tried to buy sanitary pads, nappies, wet wipes and toothbrushes.
As allegedly shown in the video, boxes of products were put in a trolley by an Aldi worker to be put back on the shelves, while Ms Casey and her friend said they were allowed to buy £98.70 worth of items.
Ms Casey said: ‘I had been accused of looting supplies for Southend, which is not true because we then drove to Lidl and we packed up another couple of nappies and there was plenty of stock.’
The mother-of-two said although it looked like a lot of stock, they had only picked up certain sizes of nappies and said there were just two packets of nappies in each box.
She added that they had only picked up the nappies still in the boxes because they thought it would be easier to ship that way.
She continued: ‘It’s not like there’s a shortage. I understand that during coronavirus pandemic people were panic buying.
Ms Casey claimed she and her friend were only allowed to buy one trolley of items, but insisted they were not ‘panic buying and had left stock for others. Pictured: Aldi in Southend-on-sea
‘I did not panic buy, because there were plenty of stock left back on the shelf, I took certain sizes thinking ‘we have probably limited spaces in that lorry and it’s a crisis, let’s make sure they have something’.
‘We had sanitary pads as well and then big nappies, adult nappies, because in that message they said they needed adult nappies.’
Ms Casey said she went to Lidl afterwards and was told she was allowed to buy nappies in larger quantities, adding that she also went to Farmfoods, where they said the same.
She said: ‘We went to Farmfoods and we got some tea, coffee, milk powder, we got some dry biscuits and I said ‘listen, can I buy that many of the stuff’ and they looked at us like we were delusional and said ‘yes, buy whatever you want, there’s no restriction’.’
Ms Casey said she felt like ‘crying’ in Aldi, saying she was just trying to do ‘everything’ she could to help the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country amid Russia’s invasion.
‘Obviously everybody wants to help we can’t just leave our friends and neighbours in need. I can’t even imagine, if I am like this and nobody is sending nothing, I would be devastated,’ she said.
‘I just felt unwelcome, I just felt like crying in the middle of that shop.’
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