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 Vaccine roll-out begins, 12 hours a day, seven days a week
- 2 'Small number of Covid-19 deaths' at care home
- 3 Artist impressions of how Mepal will be transformed into a £6.5m crematorium
- 4 Council offers reserved parking for elderly heading for Covid jab
- 5 Coronavirus test centre staff ‘receive abuse’ from angry motorists
- 6 Slimmer's life-changing weight loss story
- 7 Tributes to 'loving, kind family man' and community stalwart
- 8 Minor injury unit closes to allow staff to respond to crisis in the community
- 9 Man attempts to smuggle MDMA tablets disguised as Mars Bar into jail
- 10 Man, 39, convicted of assault on two HMRC officers by beating
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.”
