Christchurch man, 78, not satisfied Sainsbury’s March did enough to help after fall left him bleeding and needing stitches
Gordon Mathewson was left with a cut on above his eye after the fall. PHOTO: Ben Jolley. - Credit: Archant
A 78-year-old man who was left bleeding and needing stitches after a fall at Sainsbury’s in March is not satisfied the store did enough to help.
Sainsbury’s insists they did and deny claims by the family they refused to call for an ambulance.
Gordon Mathewson of Christchurch had gone to use the toilet while his wife Shirley did the shopping.
“Then all of a sudden I heard my name called out on the tannoy but they didn’t say what had happened,” she said.
“At first I thought it was my dog that had got out of the car, but it was actually my husband. Then when I saw him in a wheelchair, they were wiping up the blood.”
You may also want to watch:
Despite asking for an ambulance to be called, Mrs Mathewson says she was advised that she should make her own way to nearby Doddington hospital with her husband, who had tripped and fallen to the ground.
Sainsbury’s denied her claim that they had refused to call for an ambulance.
Most Read
- 1 Crews tackle huge Fens blaze
- 2 Crash driver flees leaving female passenger injured
- 3 Sat nav 'takes one for the team' in bridge crash
- 4 Tonight's 24 Hours in Police Custody follows brutal Cambridgeshire murder
- 5 ‘I’m Lovin It’ burglars caught by McDonald's trip
- 6 Squash club marks 40 years of competitions
- 7 Road blocked due to crash involving a tractor on A14 near Godmanchester
- 8 Of all the places in all the city to park an uninsured 4x4
- 9 22 arrests, drugs, cash and weapons seized in county lines crackdown
- 10 Keep your eyes peeled for David’s dinosaur this weekend
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We would of course call an ambulance if needed. To suggest otherwise is simply nonsense.”
Sainsbury’s have since offered Mr Mathewson £50 in compensation, however he has turned it down.
Mrs Mathewson added: “It’s not about the money, he means much more to me than money.
“All we want is to be sure it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
Gordon’s daughter, Jackie Gamble, said: “I am furious that they never called a paramedic out for my dad.
“I spoke to someone on the phone and questioned their policy of only calling out a paramedic for members of staff.
“I said ‘if that is the case, then your colleagues care is more important than your actual customers’.
“I was told that they do not get a paramedic out for a fall, but dad was pouring with blood. It’s really knocked him for six, and it’s shook my mum up as well – she was in shock herself seeing him like that.
“As you go through the doors there’s a mat just in front that came up and dad tripped over it – but it wasn’t secured to the ground.
“If they are going to have a mat they have got to make it properly secure so people don’t fall over it.”
