PENARTH'S Tesco staff have been praised for going “above and beyond the call of duty” after helping a 95-year-old man buy his shopping after his card was declined.

Staff waited with William ‘Bill’ Ledbury for more than four hours whilst the problem was dealt with before giving him a lift home and helping him carry his shopping up the steps.

Cherryl Hubbard, Bill’s daughter, praised staff for their efforts last Friday, January 3, and thanked them for looking after her father.

“They put him into their canteen and gave him a cup of coffee and didn’t give up until the bank had sorted it out,” she said.

“The bank ended up giving him compensation too.”

A few days after the shopping incident Bill returned to the Terra Nova Way superstore with a box of chocolates as a Thank You.

“After he got there the HR manager came down and helped him shop and put all his shopping in his bags,” added Cherryl.

“He was going to order a taxi but they gave him a lift home again and helped him carry the shopping up the stairs.

“I think they are going to see a lot more of him there.”

She added: “I would like to thank them for being so kind and helpful.

“I think its extraordinary that they should go to such effort to sort everything out.”

Jo Thomas, store manager at Tesco, said that it was normal for staff to go out of their way to help customers whenever they had difficulties and that they always strived to help those that needed assistance.

She said that Kirsty Powell helped him with his shopping, John Taylor kept him company while he was waiting for his card to be sorted out, and Adam Williams gave him a lift home.

“We offer personal shopping facilities to all our customers, and we have a few regulars that come in for assistance,” she said.

“We will never shy away from helping someone.

“If anyone needs assistance we are more than happy to help.

She added: “It’s lovely that we have done something spot on and it’s a real morale booster.

“I take a lot of pride in the fact that my team went out of their way to help and it was something that they wanted to do.”