Mum says she's been banned from buying veg in Lidl after she wanted 100 cucumbers

A woman says she was ‘barred’ from buying fruit and veg at her local Lidl after attempting to buy 100 cucumbers.

Lisa Fearns claims she’s been buying an unusually high number of cucumbers every week for the last three years, without incident, until her most recent trip last Sunday (19 February).

In case you’re wondering why on Earth anyone would want 100 cucumbers per week, I feel this is the time to explain that Lisa runs her own juicing business.

The 49-year-old mum said she was stocking up as usual on Sunday, when a member of staff rushed over and told her she wouldn’t be able to buy the dozens of cucumbers.

Instead, Lisa said she spent two hours having to travel to five different supermarkets to pick up the veg she’d normally be able to get in 15 minutes.

Her cucumber disappointment came as some supermarkets put restrictions on the number of fruit and vegetables items customers can purchase.

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However, Lidl has not introduced such measures and a spokesperson said Lisa's issue will have arisen due to the 'wholesale purchase attempt’.

Lisa, from Kirby, Merseyside, said: "I've been going every week on a Sunday for three years. I get there at 10am because I need the cucumbers to be fresh then I make juices in the day.

"I get funny looks when I'm in the supermarket, people look at me like 'what are you doing?'

"I needed 100 cucumbers. The manager came running out of the back saying I'm buying too much fruit and veg and I can't purchase that much. They didn't want my custom so I said I'd take my custom to Aldi.

"I had to go Asda, another Lidl and another Aldi. I'm like a secret shopper. It [now] takes me about two hours to get all the shopping rather than 15 to 20 minutes.

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"In Aldi there was a limit of three per person so I picked up six and they didn't say anything.

"I'm stressed about what I'm going to do every week. I'm going to have to find a pleasant, happy, fruit and vegetable store that would like to take my business. There's going to be a battle in the shops."

A Lidl spokesperson said: "As a supermarket we want to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need, and we are therefore unfortunately not able to facilitate wholesale purchases.

"We thank shoppers for their understanding and consideration of other customers."

However, Lisa claims she’d done the same shop every week for three years and has never been stopped before.

Topics: Shopping, News, Food and Drink

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at Tyla who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats.