Netherfield supermarket has introduced ‘quiet hour’ to help shoppers with autism

A supermarket in Netherfield has introduced a ‘quiet hour’ to help autistic shoppers who struggle with music and noise.

Morrisons, which has a store on Victoria Retail Park, will now dim overhead lights and also suspend music and tannoy announcements each Saturday between 9am and 10am.

The volume on self-service checkouts will also be turned right down, while trolley and basket movements around the store will also be reduced to help customers who suffer from sensory overload caused by loud noises.



The new scheme has been set up with co-operation from the National Autistic Society, which says shoppers who are autistic or those with autistic children can find visiting the supermarket an anxious experience.

There are also a number of other conditions where suffers hate loud noise.

The supermarket giant’s bosses decided to introduce the idea at all of their UK stores following a successful trial earlier this year.

Morrisons are believed to be the first supermarket chain to roll out the scheme to all stores nationwide.

The National Autistic Society says there are 700,000 people on the autism spectrum in the UK, who “see, hear and feel the world differently to other people, often in a more intense way”.

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