At 79 years old, most great-grandmothers are thinking about what to cook for Sunday dinner. Margaret Telford is thinking about how to get back into Tesco.
The retired dinner lady from Stockport was handed a lifetime ban from all branches of a major UK supermarket chain after an incident staff described as “aggressive behaviour.” Margaret calls it a misunderstanding over a mislabelled tin of tomatoes.
“I’ve shopped there for 40 years,” she told local reporters outside her terraced home last week. “Forty years, and they treat me like I’m some sort of criminal. I raised my voice. I didn’t raise my fists.”
The ban, which covers every store in the chain nationwide, was issued following a complaint by a member of staff at her local branch in Stockport town centre. Margaret received a formal letter shortly after, informing her the decision was final and any return to the premises would result in police involvement.
Her granddaughter, 34-year-old Claire Telford, has launched a formal appeal on her behalf and says the punishment is wildly disproportionate. “She’s nearly 80. She lives alone. That branch is a five-minute walk from her front door. The next nearest supermarket is almost two miles away and she doesn’t drive.”
The appeal argues that the ban constitutes a practical hardship, particularly given Margaret’s limited mobility. Claire has also raised concerns about whether proper procedure was followed before the nationwide ban was issued, rather than a more localised restriction.
Supermarket chains do hold the legal right to ban individuals under civil trespass law, and such bans are more common than most shoppers realise. Retailers issued an estimated 400,000 banning orders across the UK in 2023, though the vast majority relate to shoplifting rather than verbal disputes.
A spokesman for the supermarket said the company takes the safety and wellbeing of its staff “very seriously” and that all decisions are reviewed fairly through its internal appeals process.
Margaret, for her part, is already planning her next move if the appeal fails. “I’ll go to Lidl,” she said. “Never liked their bread, but there we are.”
Whether the supermarket will quietly reverse its decision or dig in remains to be seen. But with a feisty great-grandmother and a determined granddaughter pushing back, this probably isn’t over quite yet.
