DISTRESSED Trowbridge mum Sarah Cope has criticised the response of ASDA staff at The Shires shopping centre, after she claims staff ignored her when her two-year-old suffered a seizure during a shopping trip on Saturday.

Mrs Cope was shopping in the store in Trowbridge with her husband Dan and their two children Alana, two, and Autumn, three, at around 11.30am when Alana suffered a seizure.

Mrs Cope said one staff member was filling shelves just metres away and would have heard the commotion, but it was only when she got home that she realised no one had come to their aid.

“My daughter started her seizure in the trolley due to becoming stressed,” Mrs Cope told the Wiltshire Times. “She went rigid and as my husband pulled her out she had already started throwing her arm back.

“She lost consciousness, and we placed her in the recovery position. While we were counting the length of time she was under, not one ASDA worker asked us if we needed any help or called for a first aider.

“My daughter was in the recovery position for almost five to 10 minutes, while people around us were shopping and the ASDA worker continued to fill the shelves just metres away from us.

“It was incredibly frightening as it has never happened outside our home before. We were too worried about Alana to ask for help, but it was obvious to anyone nearby what was happening as she was clearly unconscious.”

Alana has a condition called Reflex Anoxic Seizures (RAS). Her seizures are usually a consequence of a sudden reduction in the blood flow to the brain, a drop in oxygen content of the blood supplying the brain or a combination of the two.

Mrs Cope added: “I had to pick her up off the floor as she had gone into a deep sleep while her body recovered and I was walking up and down the frozen aisle, but still no one stopped to offer help.”

The 40-year-old contacted ASDA later on Saturday to complain and was told that someone would look at CCTV footage and call her back. When she heard nothing she called again on Sunday.

She was then told that her initial call was not logged and again staff told her that someone would look at the CCTV footage and call her back Monday. However, after Monday came and went without a reply, Mrs Cope called ASDA a third time.

“After I settled Alana down when we got home, the penny dropped that no one had come to help during the seizure and it made me so angry and upset that I had to complain,” she said.

“I phoned customer services on three occasions and at no time did ASDA call me back. It was only during the last call I spoke to someone who said they had viewed the CCTV footage.

“They said that they would speak to the member of staff and offered me a goodwill voucher for getting in contact with them, but that is the last thing I wanted. I wanted an apology and an assurance that no one else would have to go through the same thing as we did.”

This week an Asda spokesman said: “We’re currently investigating and will be in touch with Ms Cope very soon. We apologise for any upset caused to her and her daughter.”