I wanted to alert parents/carers to a serious situation which I encountered last week when shopping at the Watford Asda Store with my mother, son and daughter (aged 11 months and 2 ½).
After completing our shopping, we went to a checkout. The checkout aisle was very restricted and only trolley width. I unloaded my shopping from the front of the trolley onto the conveyor belt whilst my mother held the trolley handle and supervised the children.
Whilst packing the shopping, I suddenly noticed that my daughter (aged 2 ½) had several uncellophaned boxes of Nurofen tablets in her hand. I alerted my mother and she immediately took them from my daughter and looked to find out where she had obtained them.
We were shocked to see a small shelf (approximately 12ins long x 6ins deep) attached to the back of the next checkout, on the right hand side of our checkout aisle (the opposite side to the conveyor belt) displaying boxes of Nurofen tablets. It was situated at the elbow level of a child, sitting (as my daughter was) in a trolley seat. Not 'out of the reach of children' as most medicines proclaim!
My daughter had not visibly moved in order to obtain the tablets. Furthermore, neither my mother nor I observed the shelf when we entered the checkout area and so we were unaware that there were potentially harmful items within her reach. Due to the situation of this shelf, it is clear that in order to have grasped the tablets, unnoticed, whilst being supervised, she merely had to move her hand discreetly by only a few inches.
The tablets were displayed in an area where one would never have reasonably expected to find them. As a responsible parent, when I visit the non-prescription drugs/medicine aisles, I take extra care to avoid permitting the children accessing products, which would cause them harm.
The Store Manager did not respond to our request to report this matter, however a store 'runner' immediately removed the Nurofen and proceeded to remove further stocks from similar shelves situated at all of the checkouts. The Till Operative commented that they had recently removed Strepsils from these shelves for the same reason.
When we returned to my house, my mother contacted Asda Head Office by telephone, to find out what the Store's policy was in this situation. A Consumer Complaints advisor took the details and sought advice. He informed us that it is Asda's policy that Store Managers are permitted to display products wherever they choose and that "it is the responsibility of parents to keep their children under supervision at all times".
In my view, Asda's policy on this matter is highly irresponsible. Asda failed to display the Nurofen in a safe manner and as a result, failed in its duty of care towards children. If my children were not closely supervised, or if I was shopping alone with the children (as I often am), it is wholly foreseeable that my daughter could have ingested the tablets and/or fed them to her baby brother. I dread to imagine the resulting consequences of that scenario!
We have since written to the CEO of Asda Stores to inform him of this incident and asked him to confirm whether or not Asda will continue to display such merchandise within the reach of children at checkouts. We await his response.
Local Trading Standards Officers confirmed that there is no specific legislation in relation to this matter and that they have no power to enforce caution on a store with regard to displaying this type of merchandise. Therefore, one has to presume that the common law duty of care/reasonable foreseeability of harm would apply in court if one was to litigate when their child becomes injured/harmed.
The moral of the story is please, please PLEASE, take real notice of what is being displayed within the reach of your children, particularly at checkouts. Do not to take it for granted that even a big-name store will take a common sense approach to displaying merchandise which could be harmful to children.