AN ELDERLY skin cancer victim was ordered to remove the hood she wore to cover her bandages as she entered a Wirral superstore for some post-Christmas shopping.

Staff at the Asda store in Liscard insisted that great-grandmother Ruth Stoba's headgear had to be removed for "security reasons".

The frail 85-year-old has 19 stitches in her head and wore a long purple padded coat with its hood pulled up because she was self-conscious of her bandages.

She had left her Wallasey home for the first time since an operation to go with her daughter Janet Dellius to the Seaview Road store.

As they entered, Janet was stopped by a staff member and told that her mother's hood must be taken down for security reasons.

Janet said: "I was furious, I couldn't believe it. It's a good job my mum hadn't heard him because she would have walked straight back out again.

"I told him 'no I would not tell her to take her hood down,' and stormed over to the customer service desk to complain.

"It was obvious that she wasn't a young 'hoodie.' You could tell by her thick glasses, grey hair and walking stick.

"She had only just built up the confidence to go out after her cancer operation and the thought of having to expose her bandages to everyone would have really upset her."

Leah Fraser, Conservative councillor for Liscard, said Asda should use common sense in their battle to beat anti-social behaviour at the store.

She said: "It's a sad day when an elderly lady, recently out of hospital having had major surgery, is stopped because she wears a hood to maintain her dignity. It may be ASDA policy to ban all people wearing a hood from entering the store. However, a blanket policy doesn't always work - as we have seen in this instance."

Asda staff told Mrs Dellius that they would pass her complaint on to a customer service manager.

Later, when the pair went for coffee, Janet told her mum about the incident.

She said: "My mum was as shocked and disgusted as me and she kept on asking: 'I'm a hoodie?"

The Globe contacted Asda's general manager, who declined to comment.