'This little vehicle fascinated me': new Asda electric vehicle inspires Linda's story

Regular Asda customer Linda Hill was so fascinated by the new electric vehicle at our Rugby store that she wrote a story about it which she presented to colleagues to say thank you for everything they've done over the last year.

Linda called her story The Adventures of Tilly Dilly – the name she gave the van – and colleagues liked it so much that they've adopted the name!

The store's community champion Allie Scrace invited Linda and her husband Roy into the store to take a closer look at the electric van, and to thank her for her kindness.

Linda says she dreamed up the story after seeing the little Garia electric van moving groceries from the store to our Click & Collect centre by our petrol station.

She said: "This little vehicle fascinated me so I called her Tilly Dilly, which I think really fits, and for a bit of fun I wrote a little story about her called The Adventures of Tilly Dilly."

She says the story was a thank you to the brilliant team at Rugby and that she hoped it would "brighten up their day".

Linda and Roy, who was an Asda lorry driver for 25 years before retiring two years ago, were invited to our store where Linda had some photos taken with Tilly Dilly and sat in the driving seat too.

Linda, who's 69 and loves to write poetry, said: "I was thrilled to be invited to the store. I thought it was very kind of them. We met Allie and she gave me a lovely bouquet of flowers and she had a name plate with Tilly Dilly written on it too.

"She arranged for little Tilly Dilly to come round the front so I could meet her and sit in her. It was great fun and I felt honoured. It was nice to meet the van in the flesh so to speak as I've only ever seen her parked round the back."

Linda says colleagues at the Rugby store have been brilliant since the start of the pandemic.

She said: "They've have faced so many daily changes and rules but have kept the store well supplied with goods and all the staff have remained cheerful and helpful to their customers."

Allie said: "When I read Linda's story it just brought a smile to my face and it did around the office as well. It's one of the best stories I've heard since I started to work for Asda 10 years ago. We even call the van Tilly now too!

"Linda had really gone to town on it and I really wanted to meet her. She deserved to meet Tilly too so I had a chat with Andy Peat, who looked after the electric van, and we agreed a day with Linda when she was coming in for her shopping.

"She was so shocked to see Tilly. She was over the moon. It really made her day."