A Palmerston North businesswoman has publicly claimed a supermarket employee rammed a trolley into her toddler, crushing his fingers – but the supermarket says she’s wrong and has invited her to come in and look at security footage. 

The mother, who wanted to remain anonymous, made her claims on social media this week. 

She posted that her 1-year-old son was sitting in one trolley while Pak’nSave Palmerston North employees scanned and packed her groceries into another trolley. 

Her son became restless: “He got a bit fidgety with the trolley that the checkout lady was packing our groceries into as he could see all his fruits and snacks and was getting a bit excited,” she posted to Facebook. 

“This horrible woman growled my son for touching the trolley and rammed the trolley back into the one he was sitting in and jammed his tiny fingers between the two. 

“We were mortified. You, woman, need to do better, or quit your job if you treat people like that.” 

She said she struggled to keep her composure when the incident happened. 

“I held myself to the best I could. I wanted to jump over and rip your hair out, but I didn’t, and I just wanted you to know this. I hope you wake up tomorrow and do better. Be kind or stay home.” 

The woman said she had complained to the store. 

Supermarket owner Steve Duffield declined to comment about the incident. 

A Foodstuffs spokesman said the company had reviewed security camera footage – “and it doesn’t seem consistent” with the woman’s recount of the incident. 

“We’d invite the customer to come into the store and view the footage with the owner to get clarity on what happened.” 

The Herald put that response back to the mother, who was enthusiastic about taking up the offer to see the footage for herself. 

“I’d like to see the CCTV footage, because I know how it was, how I had seen it, and how she spoke to my son, telling him off and giving the trolley a shove. 

“It might not have been intentional, but my son got hurt because she shoved the trolley. So it’s how it made us feel, at the end of the day.” 

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.