Parents anger as store refuses Welsh prescription

A family from north Wales claim a prescription for their sick son was refused by Morrisons supermarket in Bangor because it was in Welsh.

Aled Mann says on his Facebook page that the family took the prescription in on Tuesday as Harley had a chest infection but because it wasn't in English the supermarket said it could not dispense the drugs.

"No other pharmacist in Bangor or Caernarfon had what he needed so we had to go back to the surgery to get it changed," says Aled, then adding in Welsh "Gwarthus o beth yn gwlad ein hunain!!", meaning "It's a shameful thing in our country".

Later he reported: "Unfortunately Harley was admitted to hospital this morning. Who knows, if he'd have had the steroid tablets when he needed them it could have been avoided!!"

Local community councillor Arfon Wyn said the news was "disturbing".

"The parents were forced to dash back to the surgery to try and get the prescription changed. But from what I understand this was too late and the child had to be rushed to Ysbyty Gwynedd for treatment," he told ITV Cymru Wales.

"This is totally diabolical. It is the trend of these large supermarkets not to employ bilingual local people and so such terrible events as this can take place," he added.

The councillor says he plans to organise a protest of councillors and local business people at the store later today to demand a full investigation and a full apology.

A spokesperson for Morrisons told ITV Cymru Wales, "The pharmacy team are looking into it and are working with the store and area pharmacy team to find out what has happened."