A Blackburn mum says her Christmas was ‘ruined’ after Asda lost her shopping.

Roxanne O'Neill had taken a taxi to the Asda store to pick up her Click & Collect shopping for the Christmas holidays on Friday, December 15, only to be told the purchase was ‘not available’.

Not only did she have to leave empty handed, but she also had to wait until after the big day for the cost of the shop - more than £170 - to be refunded, which "ruined Christmas".

Asda apologised for the inconvenience caused by a technical issue. 

The store also said a refund was made available from December 19 and 'did re-pick the order and did attempt to contact the customer using the details they had provided but were unsuccessful'.

Roxanne said: “The order was placed on December 14. I have three children at home and I shop at Asda.

"Every month our shopping is due to be collected on the 15th so I got there in a taxi with my children to be told they could not find my order.

“I had to leave in the taxi, which cost me £15, and I left without my shopping. I wasn't told it was cancelled. I was messed around quite a lot in the run up to Christmas. 

“So, we had to make do with basically nothing. It has affected me personally quite badly. I have chronic lung disease and I also have many mental health issues.

"This has absolutely crushed me.”

Roxanne said she would not have minded too much if she had been told the £173 worth of shopping would be delivered at a later date.

“If they hadn't done this or delivered the order I wouldn't have needed to borrow or mess around with bill money.

"I would be okay for food unil January 15 when I get paid again."

For Christmas Day, she said she "had to buy bits of food from a corner shop" to have for dinner.

She said she had to wait more than 10 days for the refund and this was only made after Christmas itself, leaving her out of pocket.

“I have only just had a refund," she said, "and they added a £20 voucher to my Asda account as compensation, which I find insulting to be honest.”

Roxanne said the whole experience had put her off shopping with the store again.

She added: “I’m not looking to shop with Asda again, this experience has made me ill, and I’ve had to get in debt waiting for the refund, which has in turn left me without again.”

An Asda spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by a technical issue that meant part of this customers order was missing when they arrived.

"The store made every effort to rearrange the collection and when this was not possible, a full refund was processed and a gesture of goodwill was provided."