Ashfield councillor calls on MP to apologise to ASDA staff over social distancing claims

Ashfield MP Lee Anderson has been criticised by a district politician for denouncing key retail workers in the ongoing row at Sutton’s Asda’s over social distancing and called on to apologise to employees.
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Earlier this week, Mt Anderson, Conservative MP for the district, said that the Priestsic Road retailer was one of the topics he had received the most complaints about as an MP.

He visited Asda, which had been described as “disorganised chaos” as well as superstores in the area including Tesco, Morrisons and Wilko. Unlike Asda, the MP reported that other shops were “run like military operations.”

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Constituents complaints concerned people standing close together and Mr Anderson said he felt the Government’s coronavirus social distancing rules weren’t being followed, as they were allowing too many people in at one time.

Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who had been slammed by council politicians for wading into ASDA over social distancing.Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who had been slammed by council politicians for wading into ASDA over social distancing.
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who had been slammed by council politicians for wading into ASDA over social distancing.
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Asda "disappointed" at comments over social distancing measures at Sutton store

But now, Councillor David Hennigan, who represents Central Sutton, told your Chad: “I deal with dozens of complaints on a daily basis. The lack of social distancing is one of them.

“This tends to be around Sutton Lawn and King’s Mill Reservoir. I have not had a single resident raise concerns about social distancing at ASDA in Sutton.

“Indeed, the only complaint has been about key workers like NHS staff not having priority shopping times; something that the store has addressed.

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“I simply do not understand where the current MP is coming from. ASDA is our biggest employer and I do not think it is helpful nor constructive for Mr Anderson to exaggerate in this manner.”

“By square metre, ASDA in Sutton remains one of the busiest in the country. Like many supermarkets, it’s faced challenges and it’s had to adapt to a new way of serving their customers. Their staff are amongst the key workers we applaud as a community every Thursday night. To undermine them in this public manner is irresponsible and maybe Mr Anderson should apologise.”

A company spokesman said: “In line with current social distancing guidelines we have implemented a range of methods to ensure the safety of everyone in our stores, including two metre spacing markers and directional arrows, shields at checkouts and a limited number of customers in our stores at one time.”

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