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A terminally-ill gran has been left 'devastated' by a Lidl security guard she claims banned her for looking like a "druggie"
As a result of suffering from lung condition emphysema and brittle bone disease, 55-year-old Karen Sahiti, says she's lost almost half her bodyweight.
For one supermarket doorman, at least, Karen's frail frame could mean only one thing – that she was addicted to heroin and therefore had no business going inside.
READ MORE: Travellers 'take over' Lidl car park sparking 'battle' with supermarket chiefs
Karen claims she was confronted by the guard at Lidl on Stratford Road, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, when she popped in to buy beer for her son and use the toilet earlier this month.
Karen, from Milton Keynes, said: "He looked me up and down a few times and said: 'Look at the state of you'. I was so confused.
"The guard and the manager banned me from the shop and I went home and told my daughter.
"When she went down to complain and get their details she recorded the security guard say he had mistaken me for a druggie. It broke my heart."
Karen, whose weight has dropped from 13 stone to six stone and is receiving end of life care, originally stopped off at the store to buy her son beer.
The security guard, to Karen's surprise, looked her up and down slowly from head to toe then told her: "You can – but only if you come straight back to me afterwards."
Puzzled, Karen did as he said.
When she returned she says he banned her from shopping there.
She said: "He told me he was refusing me entry into the store because I looked suspicious. I was horrified and said:' Why? How do I look suspicious?'
"He looked me up and down again and said: 'Look at the state of you'. I was so confused that I asked to see the manager."
The manager arrived and made a slight concession – Karen could shop in the store but she had to be watched at all times as she did so.
Karen left the store immediately, but she was so upset that she sat in her car crying for 20 minutes before she was able to drive home.
Later, her daughter went to complain, accusing the store of discrimination.
Karen said: "I realised by the way they were treating me that they thought I was a heroin addict and might steal something.
"Even though I was clean and tidy, it must have been because I'm so thin.
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"I'm 55 years old and I'm dying. I may look ill and thin but I'm certainly not a druggie. How dare they?
"I don't have long left, probably only months, and I certainly don't need something like this happening."
Since then the family has contacted Lidl head office asking for an apology but are yet to receive one at the time of writing.
A Lidl spokesperson said an investigation will be held into the incident.
They said: "We are investigating this as a priority."
The supermarket giant also promised a statement will be issued "as soon as possible" when the investigation has been completed.
- Lidl
- Family
- Drugs
- Cancer
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