Kind-hearted Jamie praised for making boy's shopping trips fun

Three-year-old Liam often finds going to the shops difficult as sounds, smells and large groups of people can send him into sensory overload – but his mum Lindsay says the thoughtfulness of Jamie Jackson from our Heybridge store in Essex now makes it a much more pleasurable experience for him.

Jamie, who's 17, always finds a pull-along basket for Liam, which distracts him and makes shopping much more fun for both him and Lindsay, and he loves trying to make Liam laugh.

Lindsay said: "Asda is the only shop we can go to now – all because of Jamie. Liam has additional needs and shopping is difficult for him, but Jamie has helped him massively.

"We'd like to say a big thank you to Jamie for making Liam feel special and making shopping easier.

"Every time we go to the store, which could be two or three times a week, Jamie, if he's working, will gives Liam a pull-along basket when he comes in. It diverts and distracts Liam and makes shopping bearable.

"If there are no baskets available, Jamie always finds him one from out of the back. What Jamie does has such an impact on our lives."

Jamie, who started work at the store in October, is a store safety marshal. He says it's nice to be praised, but that being helpful to customers is a big part of his job.

He said: "As I'm at the front of the store I'm always giving out baskets and when Liam comes in I make sure he gets a wheelie basket so he can push it round the store. If there aren't any there I will go and find him one.

"If I see him in the store pushing it around I go up to him and smile and try to make him laugh. He is really cute. He always brings the basket back to me when he and his mum have finished shopping. I'm glad that I'm able to help him and his mum in some way."

Jamie, who lives five minutes away from the store with his dad Darren, mum Sally and sister Chloe, said: "I love my job and I love chatting to the customers here. We are quite a small store and we do get a lot of regulars here. I get on well with everyone."

Store manager Matt Cork nominated Jamie for an Asda award for his "fantastic" customer service award and said: "We are all so the so proud of him."

He said: "Jamie's quite a young lad himself and in the time he's been with us his confidence has really grown. He's got more confident in dealing with customers and interacting with them too. We are a very small shop and have a lot of regular customers and Jamie has developed a good rapport with them.

"Lindsay finds it very difficult to take her son out shopping however she has found shopping in our store to be a completely different experience all because of Jamie.

"He takes his time to interact with this young lad and and always finds him a wheelie basket that he can use in the store to help his mum with the shopping.

"His mum's really appreciative of everything Jamie does to make her shopping experience in our store more enjoyable."