Colleagues Nicola and Chris find shelter for regular customer made homeless

When Asda colleagues Nicola Armstrong and Chris Barton discovered that a regular customer had fallen on hard times and was homeless they worked together with a local shelter to get him off the streets and into a safe place to stay.

Service host Nicola and security colleague Chris, who work at our Queens Road supermarket in Ashton-under-Lyne, saw that the customer had been outside in the cold for quite some time, so approached him a few times to see if was okay before he told them his situation.

Nicola and Chris contacted a local homelessness charity called The Town House who offered him accommodation and support until he found a more permanent place to live. Nicola and Chris also bought him some groceries to take to the self-catering refuge.

Chris, who's worked at the store for five years, said: "I've known the guy quite a long time. He always comes into the store, but on this occasion he was stood outside in the pouring rain. I went out to talk to him and he told me what had happened.

"It turned out that he'd fallen on unfortunate times and had nowhere to go and had no money. Helping him was just the right thing to do."

Store manager Matt Gregory, who nominated Nicola and Chris for an Asda customer service award, said: "We are all really proud of them in store. It was a really nice gesture and a great example of putting our customers' wellbeing first.

"The customer has been a regular with us for years and he's well known to everyone in the store. On the day in question Chris spotted him just stood outside in the cold and he'd been there for quite some time. He went to see if he was okay and he said he was fine. Nicola did the same and then Chris had another chat with the customer who told him what had happened.

"The customer's been back in the store since and was really appreciative of what Chris and Nicola did for him."

Pauline Town, who set up the Town House, said: "I'd really like to say a huge thank you to Chris and Nicola who went above and beyond to help a customer who was facing homelessness.

"Asda have helped us so often with donations and support, but this is even more special. People often look the other way, but these two made sure that someone in real trouble was safe and had the help they needed. That's really special and I am so happy that they are being recognised for that, just absolutely well done and thank you."