The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Samaritan pays £60 after card was declined
Aldi Angel: Woman’s blushes were spared thanks to random act of kindness
It is a moment that would fill anyone with dread – card declined at the till in front of a long queue of impatient shoppers.
That is exactly what happened to Sarah Stoddart, from Kirkcaldy, who was unaware that her bank account had been blocked due to hacking activity.
But amazingly, a total stranger stepped in and paid the £60 worth of shopping to spare Sarah’s blushes.
The 29-year-old now wants to publicly thank the man, believed to be a Dundee University nursing student, for his kindness.
Sarah said: “I did my food shop at Aldi and I had a whole trolley of stuff, it came to almost £60.
“When I got to the till my card was declined, which was strange because I knew I had money in my account.
“I tried again at another till and the same thing happened. By this point I was mortified as there were queues of people tutting and probably judging me, thinking I had no money.
“I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t pay but I also didn’t want to leave the shopping as there was so much stuff to be put back on the shelves.
“Then out of nowhere, a man offered to pay for it all. I kept refusing, but he was very insistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
After he paid, Sarah logged on to her online banking to try to transfer money to him, but got an error message saying to contact her bank.
She later found out that hackers had been trying to log in, leading to her account being blocked.
Sarah added: “I had to get my husband to give me money to give to the guy. We also got him a few beers to say thanks.
“It’s just amazing that a student, who probably doesn’t have much himself, offered to pay for £60 worth of shopping to a total stranger.
“It was so generous of him and I won’t forget it.”