ASDA has accused a group of residents of launching a “campaign of abuse” against its staff.
Locals in Bedminster, Bristol say the supermarket giant has left them “shattered” by allowing late night deliveries which have been causing them sleepless nights for eight years.
Asda has now issued a shocking statement accusing nearby residents of “physical and verbal assault, trespassing, threats through social media and a constant bombardment of emails and calls”.
But locals claim the store has caused them stress, sleepless nights and years of misery as they are kept up by noisy lorries.
They say the ASDA has broken the rules which ban the trucks from the yard between 10pm and 6am more than 2,500 times in the last right years.
The long-running war even saw a man convicted at Bristol in April last year for going into the delivery yard on three occasions where he was abusive to staff.
He was slapped a 12-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to criminal damage, using threatening words/behaviour and trespass with intent to do unlawful damage, reports Bristol Live.
One resident Tony Gwyther, who lives behind the supermarket, has now had a complaint upheld by watchdogs against Bristol City Council for not doing enough to enforce the rule.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is the worst case of planning condition breaches in the history of Bristol.
“We are shattered and are in bits. They are still breaching the condition and other ones, it feels like they’re not willing to adjust. We are trying to correct the wrong so we can have the standard of life we expect.
“We’ve had so many sleepless nights and so much stress and it has seriously affected our lives and livelihoods.”
An Asda spokesperson said: “There has been a campaign of abuse towards colleagues at this store from some residents, including physical and verbal assault, trespassing, threats through social media and a constant bombardment of emails and calls to colleagues both at the store and head office.
“Unfortunately some of these incidents have led to arrests being made and one resident has pleaded guilty to multiple charges.”
‘DISGUSTING AND HORRIFIC’
But Mr Gwyther believes the residents are the ones in the right.
He said: “I’ve been falsely accused of antisocial behaviours and there have been attempts to discredit my name. We just need the rules to be followed and for our lives to be put back together.
“We have been treated appallingly – it’s disgusting and horrific. I’ve had neighbours crying on the phone, unable to get to sleep.
“Our community is suffering and no one seems to be grasping that.”
Asda say the the store was granted temporary permission throughout the pandemic.
A spokesperson said: “To help support the local community in Bedminster and manage an increase in online orders from vulnerable customers shielding during the pandemic, the delivery schedule at the store was temporarily changed,” the spokesperson added.
“These changes were in line with government guidance to ensure supermarkets could restock and continue to serve customers during the pandemic. The store’s deliveries have now returned to those in line with permitted hours.”
A city council spokesperson said “The council followed direction given by government during the Covid-19 pandemic not to enforce planning conditions on times for deliveries to retail stores to ensure shelves remain stocked when supply chains were under pressure.
“Whilst the case continued to be investigated throughout the period reviewed by the ombudsman, we accept that our progress and the actions being taken should have been better communicated to the complainant who we have sent a formal apology to.
“Enforcement officers have recently written again to the retail store and also residents about the situation and officers will be visiting the site to assess other alleged breaches. Our investigation considers the impact of deliveries on residents and the operating conditions currently in place.”
Source: The Sun
