Car park victim urges greater protection for Royton shoppers

THE victim of a failed carjacking at a Royton supermarket says more must be done to protect shoppers from possible future attacks.

The 58-year-old woman was threatened by two men on a motorbike after putting shopping in the boot of her car at the Lidl store.

Lidl, Royton

The incident on Tuesday, November 13 at about 8.30pm followed a robbery on the same car park eight days earlier.

Tony Mahon, 54, was stabbed several times before his assailants drove off in his silver Kia Picanto.

Now Deborah Lacey, who lives in Oldham, claims another person was mugged while drawing money from a cashpoint at the side of the supermarket.

“I have become angrier since it happened,” she told the Correspondent.

“I did go back the night after with my husband to get back on the horse so to speak.

“But I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect to feel safe doing shopping at 8.30pm.

“These things have happened in the past but nothing seems to have been put in place.

“Everyone is being let down by what has happened.

“They seem to want you to spend money but they don’t care about you once you have left the store.”

Deborah is full of praise for the Lidl staff who attended to her on the night of her attack.

However, she has slammed Lidl’s lack of response since then.

“I was told an area manager would be in touch but no one has been in contact,” she said.
“I only wanted someone to ask if I was ok.

“Instead, I finally got an email saying, ‘I hope you will continue to be a loyal customer.’”

Deborah visited the store while on her way home from an Armistice Day concert.

“I parked up, went into the store and did my shopping,” she explained.

“I didn’t take a bag so had the shopping under my arms.

“As I walked out of the store, I noticed a motorbike come into the car park without its lights on.

“I thought it was strange the bike didn’t have any lights on but I thought perhaps they had forgotten.

“They drove towards the store entrance and then went out of my vision. I opened my boot, put my stuff in and shut the boot.

“The bike drove alongside me so I was pinned in the middle between my car and the bike.

“One of the men jumped off, puffed himself up to make himself look more aggressive and started screaming, ‘Give me your effing keys, I want your effing car now.’

“From somewhere I screamed. He looked so shocked by my scream – it must have been horrendous – that he jumped back on the bike and they sped off.

“I ran into the store and screamed for help, a guard came running and I did collapse then.”

When asked to comment on the incidents a spokesperson for Lidl said: “I can confirm that we are committed to supporting local authorities in any way we can.”

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