A disabled woman who sued Tesco because it ordered staff not to help her to pump her tyres has won £1,000 in compensation.

Jenni Crowly, 52, said that she could not believe it when she went to the superstore’s petrol station in Mold, North Wales, and staff refused to check her tyre pressure because they would not be covered by insurance.

Mrs Crowly, who suffers from arthritis and fibromyalgia, which causes muscle pain, sued Tesco under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Tesco defended the action at Mold County Court, saying that the air pump was a free facility, not a service. The supermarket claimed that local staff had offered to hold the hose and that they had an arrangement with a nearby tyre shop for disabled motorists to check their tyre pressures there.

It was a health and safety issue because a fatality could result if staff allowed a motorist to leave the fore-court with tyres inflated to the wrong pressure. But District Judge Viv Reeves ruled that Tesco’s actions were discriminatory and ordered the supermarket to pay compensation.

Mrs Crowly from Connah’s Quay, Deeside, said: “First they said it was insurance, then they said it was health and safety, and then a memo was sent around all store garages telling staff not to put air in people’s tyres.”

She said that another supermarket, Asda, had since written to her and said that its staff would be delighted to help her and other disabled people to check their tyres.

“If Asda can do it why not Tesco? It’s ridiculous,” Mrs Crowly said. “It beggars belief. I hope they will be more polite in future. They will put petrol in my car but they will not put air in my tyres.

“They say it is a health and safety issue yet are quite happy for members of the public to do it.”

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