THE manager of a supermarket caf� has defended his decision to ask an elderly woman to leave - for eating a sandwich she'd bought from the store itself. But the woman's daughter has branded the store 'despicable' , and sworn never to shop there again

THE manager of a supermarket caf� has defended his decision to ask an elderly woman to leave - for eating a sandwich she'd bought from the store itself.

But the woman's daughter has branded the store "despicable", and sworn never to shop there again.

Gail Wynne, from Marsden Road, WGC, is furious with Carl Matthews, restaurant manager at Asda supermarket in Stevenage, for asking her 79-year-old mum Elsie Douce to leave the area because she had not purchased food from within the caf�.

Mrs Wynne said her mother, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, became out of breath on arrival at the store and asked to sit down and eat something before continuing.

The pair bought a sandwich and a drink from the store and sat down in the caf� area.

But they were soon asked to leave the area by Mr Matthews, because they didn't purchase the food from within the cafe.

Mrs Wynne, 47, has now written to Asda's customer relations department, and told the Welwyn & Hatfield Times: "To ask an elderly frail woman to leave just because she was eating a sandwich was despicable.

"Due to the nasty taste this situation has left me with, I have promised my dear old mum that we shall be taking our shopping list elsewhere from now on. Asda can stick their sandwich and their restaurant and we'll take our business to Tesco or Morrisons."

But restaurant manager Mr Matthews dismissed the incident, and called the allegations that he threw the pair out as "junk".

"People have to purchase food from our counter or cooler," he said. "That's our policy and it's always been our policy. There's a sign up saying that to our customers.

"I was polite and she didn't like it. The accusations that I threw them out are junk.

"I've been a manager at this store for a long time, and in my opinion it's just one of those people who wants to moan and take it further.