Former Tesco worker speaks on coronavirus treatment

A former member of staff at Tesco on the Hardwick in Lynn has spoken out after it was confirmed last week a small number of workers had tested positive for Covid-19.

Tesco has said it has asked all extremely clinically vulnerable colleagues and clinically vulnerable colleagues who have been deemed higher risk not to come to work until December 2, when the national lockdown ends.

They will continue to be paid in full, and a spokesman said the company has been following government guidance across all stores.

This includes safety measures to protect staff and customers such as protective screens and social distancing signage.

But a former Tesco employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Lynn News she had not felt happy about the way she was treated after she had been isolating for 12 weeks in June.

She said: "I had various managers say to me 'did you enjoy your paid holiday off?' It's not paid holiday when you are scared to go out the door and are told by your GP not to go out. It's isolation, not a holiday."

The former employee, who had an operation for cancer five-years-ago, was later sacked due to an incident involving a customer at the checkout, which was reviewed on CCTV.

Prior to this sacking just over a month ago, she had not been the subject of a single disciplinary hearing for 25 years.

She said: "The psychological damage of being told to leave and being escorted out of the premises knocked me for six."

Another person contacted the Lynn News to say his son had been asked to work at Tesco despite being vulnerable with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The 81-year-old anonymous man, who does not live in the same household, said: "I have high blood pressure so if my son's managers are taking off their masks at night then it is putting my life at risk as well."