A STRESSED out mum has paid tribute to a stranger who stepped in to pay for her supermarket trolley full of shopping when she realised her bank card was missing from her purse.
Vicki Brook had filled her trolley at Asda and was in a rush to get home. The mum-of-two had just got back from a holiday, had been out in the morning at a kids’ party and had her three-year-old with her.
She was preparing for visitors coming and was running late.
“I’d got all my shopping through the checkout, all scanned, all bagged, it came to £132 and when I went in my purse there was no card there,” said Vicki, 38, of Mapplewell.
“I panicked, and then remembered we’d been at this party at a play centre and my husband had some food - he sometimes borrows my card out of my purse without telling me, and he’d obviously not put it back.
“I asked the lady at the checkout if I could ring him to give the card details and pay over the phone, but she said they couldn’t do that. She said I’d have to leave it, come back with my card and do all the shopping all over again.
“I just didn’t have time as we had people coming round and we needed the shopping. Doing a full shop with a three-year-old is hard enough as it is, never mind doing it twice.
“Then the woman in the queue behind me just said ‘do you want me to pay for it for you and you can pay me back later’ - I just couldn’t believe it. I was stunned.
“I really felt like I should say no, because I didn’t want to put that responsibility on someone, it was a lot of money. But I was just so desperate.”
The stranger paid for the shop, and Vicki waited for the lady to pay for her own shopping, and then logged into her online banking on her mobile phone to pay back the debt.
“People just don’t believe me when I tell them about it, it was just such a kind gesture, a lovely thing to do. She could obviously see how stressed out I was.”
Later when Vicki got home, she posted about the kind gesture on Facebook, and decided to track down the stranger - she had her name and her banking details but nothing else.
She found her on Facebook, and discovered she was Vicky Cooper, a teaching assistant at Mapplewell Wellgate Primary, where Vicki turned up to surprise her with flowers.
“I never thought I’d see her again, but she’s brought some lovely flowers which was a really lovely surprise,” said Vicky, 28, of Greenside, Staincross.
“I didn’t expect anything out of it. I just remember thinking if I was in the same situation, I hoped someone might do the same for me.
“I felt good on my way home thinking I’d done a good deed for the day.”
Has someone you know gone out of their way to do a good deed? email the newsroom on editorial@barnsley-chronicle.co.uk if you think they deserve some recognition.
