Yahoo Finance Woman 'ejected from Sainsbury’s by police for refusing to wear a face mask'
Watch: Woman ‘ejected from Sainsbury’s for not wearing mask’
A woman has been ejected from a Sainsbury’s supermarket for not wearing a face mask, it has been reported.
Video footage published by KentLive shows the shopper being asked to leave the store in Dartford on Saturday because she was not wearing a face covering, the website reported.
In the clip, a male and a female police officer escort the woman from the Sainsbury’s branch after she refused to show them proof she was exempt from wearing a face mask.
Last week, a government minister said all supermarkets should ban shoppers who do not wear face masks.
Stores such as Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s said those without masks would be asked to leave their stores unless they are exempt.
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Such exemptions include for children under the age of 11, people who cannot wear a mask because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability.
Last week, British retailers called on police to help enforce COVID-19 mask rules.
Two men were fined for not wearing masks at an Aldi supermarket in Merseyside last Thursday.
In the clip posted by KentLive, the woman asks the two officers if they are doctors and says they cannot ask her to show proof of her “disability”.
She tries to show them a piece of paper she says has details of the law on face masks, but one of the officers says they do not need to see something she has printed out at home.
The police tell the shopper the store manager does not want to serve her, before they usher her out of the front doors.
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The woman asks the officers for their badge numbers before she leaves and they oblige.
The woman appeared to have made her Twitter account private after she posted the video online.
A spokeswoman for Kent Police told Yahoo News UK: “At 10.55am on Saturday, 16 January, 2021, Kent Police was called to Sainsbury’s in Dartford to assist staff, who had asked a man and a woman to leave due to them not wearing a face mask.
“Officers attended and spoke to the couple, who were then escorted from the shop. No further action will be taken.”
According to the government’s advice, people must wear face masks in shops and supermarkets in England.
However, it also states that those with an age, health or disability reason for not wearing a face covering “do not routinely need to show any written evidence of this”.
Watch: Supermarkets clamp down on mask rules
