Repeated access failures at store
Maidenhead: Shopper criticises hazardous situation
A Maidenhead resident has criticised the ‘poor’ access to Sainsbury’s superstore in Maidenhead for elderly and disabled people.
A downward section of the travellator in the Providence Place store has been out of order for more than three weeks and shoppers have also seen the lift intermittently out of action.
Mike O’Shaughnessy, 74, visited the superstore on Friday and was disappointed with the accessibility arrangements.
“There wasn’t any disabled access,” he said.
“If you are able-bodied, it’s an inconvenience but if you are elderly or disabled, I don’t know what you would do.
“It’s pretty poor really – I was able to go up the escalator with my trolley [after shopping] but it’s your own business how you actually get down to the ground level.”
Mike walked to the nearby building annexing Providence Place, housing Explore Learning, where he said he found the lifts were also out of action.
After this, he decided to take the staircase heading down to the ground floor when he saw an elderly man using it front of him.
“He was having to walk down backwards down the spiral stairs. He had a big cane stick and he was holding on to the railing,” said Mike.
“I was terrified because he was having to look down to the ground to see where he was putting his feet. If you fell down those steps the chances are you could wind up being badly hurt.”
A woman was spotted helping the elderly man down but Mike said others were unable to help because there was little room and they did not want to bump into him.
A queue of shoppers formed on the stairs as they waited for the man to reach ground level.
Mike said: “He eventually got to the bottom but there was food and debris there which he had to negotiate as well. That’s really too much to expect of someone.
“It’s depressing that someone has to go through something like that.”
In store, Mike did make a report to a member of staff who he said had passed the message to a manager.
On Friday, Sainsbury’s confirmed the lift had been repaired but shoppers spotted it out of action again on Saturday.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the disruption customers may have experienced while the travellator and lift were out of service at our Maidenhead store.
“We are working hard to fix the travellator as soon as possible and the lift is now back up and running again.”