'Shop assistant mocked our daughter's allergies'

The parents of a girl with multiple allergies were "made to feel like an inconvenience" after they asked a shop assistant to check for allergens in a pick-and-mix selection.

Matt and Sarah Bacon, from Wigan, said seven-year-old Savannah is allergic to milk, wheat, eggs, nuts, mustard and sesame, so they have to be careful about what she consumes.

Mr Bacon said they took her into shop over Easter, but when they asked for the safety check, they said they were met with "huffing and puffing with sighing and rolling of the eyes".

They said they were sharing their experience as part of Allergy Awareness Week to help to educate people about allergies.

Recalling the experience over the Easter weekend, Mrs Bacon said she was filling a bag of sweets from a pick-and-mix and asked the shop assistant if there were any allergens.

She said the assistant replied that such a request would mean "we'd have to check every box of the sweets that you've picked".

"I said, 'well, can you do that then, please?'" she said.

"And she kind of huffed inside and then she passed them to me."

Mrs Bacon left the shop without making the purchase but decided to return to buy a safe bag for her daughter.

"As we walked in the shop, the lady must have presumed that [Savannah] had some of mine," she said.

"She said, 'she didn't turn green then'.

"I thought 'what a comment to to make about a health condition'.

"You wouldn't make a joke out of somebody being in a wheelchair or having a walking stick, [so] why make fun of a little girl?"

Mr Bacon said Savannah was "very positive about her allergies and she is brilliant and very aware of what she a can't eat, but she does get upset some times".

He said it was possible her allergies could ease with age but "at the moment, she is so intolerant of wheat they just can't risk it".

The couple said they did not always experience such crass attitudes, but on this occasion, were "made to feel like an inconvenience".

"If we ask if we can check the ingredients, you kind of get huffing and puffing with sighing and rolling of the eyes," Mr Bacon added.

Savannah's allergies mean her choices at a restaurant can be limited to a plate of chips and it could be dangerous if someone simply opened a bag of peanuts near her.

Mrs Bacon said on a recent restaurant visit, she asked if the chips contained gluten and was greeted with a shrug from a waitress who said she did not know.

"She couldn't even be bothered to go to the kitchen to ask the chef," she said.

"If somebody came and asked for a key to the disabled toilet, would you say, 'oh, I don't know where it is'.

"We all had a meal and Savannah sat there not eating - as a family it's heartwrenching and quite devastating."

She said it meant the family had to take food for Savannah everywhere they go.

"If you say allergy, people think of getting a rash," Mr Bacon said.

Mrs Bacon added that was not the case and "for some children and adults its a matter of life and death".

Mr Bacon did 14 runs in 14 days in 2024 to raise awareness for the 14 main allergens and the couple were currently planning their next 14 in 14 initiative.

"I wish we could keep her in a bubble and keep her safe," Mrs Bacon said.

"I'm worried about probably the teenage years more.

"For now, we can kind of still control what she eats."

The 14 most common allergens in the UK, listed by Allergy UK, are:

• Celery
• Cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, barley and oats)
• Crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters)
• Eggs
• Fish
• Lupin
• Milk
• Molluscs (such as mussels and oysters)
• Mustard
• Peanuts
• Sesame
• Soy beans
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if the sulphur dioxide and sulphites are at a concentration of more than 10 parts per million)
• Tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer