All we want is to be able to take our disabled daughter with us when we do our shopping at Asda Lancaster

Daniel Wards-Bank, 39, of Mossgate Park, Heysham and his wife Katie, 36, have an autistic daughter named Evelyn who is seven and attends Morecambe Road School.

The family like to shop at the Asda store on Ovangle Road but since September 2023 have not been able to use a disabled trolley for Evelyn to make their shopping trip more comfortable because the trolley broke and hasn’t yet been replaced.

Daniel Wards-Bank said: “Evelyn has autism, sensory processing difficulties and global developmental delays. We like to take her out in the community to expose her to the world and try to prepare her for life ahead.

"But also to help her learn to cope with her sensitivities to her surroundings - noise, lights and movements.

"A vital part of this includes taking her to do weekly food shopping at the Asda store, Ovangle Road, Lancaster.

"She struggles immensely and requires a safe space for her regulate herself.

"She tends to sit with a blanket over her head poking her face out every now and then.

“We started using the disability trolley which allows a parent facing seat for older children and young adults.

"This allowed me to access the shop with my daughter comfortably and without stress for either of us, however, in September last year (2023) we noticed the strap had been broken and

told management and they took it off the shop floor.

"It is yet to return, a year later. Each time we ask we are told it’s still being repaired or they can’t get the strap for it.

"All this time we have been having to visit other supermarkets which we feel are more expensive and we can’t really afford to get everything we need at them.

"The big sting was when the Asda store replaced its small trolleys for brand new plastic lockable trolleys yet they still won’t pay to replace the one disability trolley which numerous people require to be able to access the store just like everyone else.

“We want Asda to finally step up and do something about this problem.”

A spokesman for Asda said: “We are aware that one of the accessible trolleys at our Lancaster store has been out of use for longer than expected.

“Whilst we have a selection of trolleys available in store, we would like to reassure any customer that uses this trolley that we have ordered a replacement.

“We hope to get this resolved as soon as possible and would like to apologise for the time it is taking for this trolley to be replaced, and any inconvenience this may have caused.”