Sainsbury's ban: Hampshire great-grandmother Rita Seymour has been barred for life from all the supermarket's branches

A great-grandmother banned from every Sainsbury’s in Britain has pleaded to be allowed back in - because her next nearest supermarket is 'too far away'.

Rita Seymour was told she was not welcome by the chain after a "number of incidents over time" at her local store in Hampshire.

However, the 79-year-old claims she is "not that sort of person" and wants the ban to be lifted.

She says the Sainsbury's is a five-minute walk from her house - compared to a 20-minute walk to Tesco.

Rita, a mum-of-one, grandmother-of-four and great-grandmother-of-two, said: “I’m not interested in money, but I live five minutes away from the shop and I would like this ban lifted.”

The retiree, who has lived in Hook, in the north of the county, since 1981, visits the nearby store once a week to do her shopping.

She would spend between £80 and £100.

It was during a visit earlier this month that Rita, who worked in customer services, got into an argument with a staff member while trying to buy a EuroMillions ticket.

Rita says she had to ask for a lottery ticket four times before getting a response from the worker.

When she finally answered, Rita claims the staff member said she had been rude and called over management, who accused her of insulting staff and ‘pinching food'.

Rita said: “She went to take a picture of me, and I pushed her camera out of her face. I said ‘I’ve done nothing wrong here, you’re not taking pictures of me’. She was flinging her arms about.”

When Rita next visited the store a day later she was stopped from coming in and given a letter telling her she’d been banned from Sainsbury’s and Argos stores across the country.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: “We want everyone to feel welcome when they shop with us and our colleagues work hard to create a positive in store experience.

“We take any form of abusive and inappropriate behaviour seriously, and following a number of incidents over time, a decision was taken to withdraw this individual’s right to shop at our Hook store. This action was not taken lightly, but the safety and wellbeing of colleagues and customers always come first.”

Rita, whose husband is disabled, denied there had ever been any previous incidents.

She said: “I’m not that sort of person, I never cause trouble, I never do any trouble – they’re saying it to get out of everything. I want to clear my name.”