Congratulations to Aston Olver from our Falmouth store who's been named our Service Colleague of the Year after going out of his way to help a customer who was running in a charity race.
Rachael Bennett called the store minutes before it closed on the eve of Falmouth's Race For Life last summer because she desperately needed safety pins to attach her race number to her top.
As Rachael wouldn't be able to reach the store before it closed Aston took her details and, after he finished his night shift, posted the pins through her letterbox alongside a note wishing her good luck. He also enclosed a £5 note to go towards her sponsorship.
Rachael was so grateful for Aston's help that she posted this message on Facebook to thank him:
Aston, who's worked at the Falmouth store for nine years and is a night section leader, received his award from Asda chief executive officer Roger Burnley and Hayley Tatum, our senior vice president of people, at a ceremony in Harrogate this month.
He said: "It's so awesome to be Service Colleague of the Year – I'm shocked!
"I was duty manager on that Saturday night and got a phone call from the customer. It was only a few minutes before we were due to close to customers, and it was clear she wouldn't be able to make it to the store before we closed.
"She said she really needed some safety pins as she was running the Race for Life for charity the next morning. I explained I would be happy to buy some safety pins and drop them off at her house after my shift, so I asked for her address.
"She said, 'Oh my God, you would do that for me?' and I said I would. It was maybe four miles out of my way driving home, but I didn't think twice about it.
"I bought the pins, wrote a note wishing her the best of luck with the race, put a fiver in and posted it all through her door.
"I didn't think anything more of it until she mentioned it on Facebook and then it appeared in our local paper."
Asda Falmouth general store manager Alex Allan said: "When I got the phone call telling me that Aston had been named Service Colleague of the Year it filled me with pride, and when I told the colleagues they were just bursting with pride too.
"What Aston did is 'Being Asda' all over. It's a great example of a colleague really going above and beyond for a customer – it's just absolutely fantastic. It's also great to see one of our night colleagues recognised for the great job they do."
