Colleagues give seven-year-old Riley special VIP tour of his 'safe place' – Asda Grimsby

Seven-year-old Riley Adams, who's autistic, often finds visits to busy places overwhelming – but he loves his regular trips to our Grimsby store with his mum Sophie so much that she says it's "his safe spot".

After his uncle Ben Bell, who works at the store in the home shopping team, told colleagues how much Riley loves calling in, they arranged a special VIP tour for him, giving him an Asda T-shirt, lanyard, name badge and toy lorry.

Sophie said: "We'd like to thank everyone at the store for making his dream come true. With him having autism he often struggles with things, but sees Asda as his safe spot.

"He's not stopped playing with the truck since he got it, putting things in it and delivering to me. He loves it.

Sophie said they first noticed him getting really excited to go to the store when he was aged about two.

She said: "He'd start clapping and would cry when we left. He's been at least once a week since then, sometimes up to three or four times a week. We often go with his younger brother Noah after school.

"I often do a list on my phone using the Asda app of things we need and I give that to Riley and he'll go off to the correct aisles every time. He knows exactly where things are. He's got so much knowledge of the place.

"Of course he's also obsessed with the toy aisle, but also equally every aisle. He'll put things in the right place if people have put them elsewhere too.

"A lot of the colleagues in the store know him and always saw hello when he comes in."

"He's always played with the Asda toys like the checkout, trolleys and baskets. Every Asda branded stuff he's had."

Asda Grimsby's operations manager Shannon Nelthorpe, said: "When we heard from Ben just how must Riley loves Asda we had to invite him in.

"We took him behind the scenes and also gave him some treats and his own T- shirt and name badge which made his day.

"He also wowed us with his knowledge by telling is what was down each aisle, simply by giving him the aisle number! We loved having him in."