Southern supermarkets worst at customer service

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The chances of getting courtesy at the checkout are better north of the border

Supermarkets in the South of England give worse customer service than their Northern counterparts, according to a new mystery shopper survey.

Market research house ESA visited 600 large supermarkets and measured whether staff greeted customers with a smile, said please and thank you, stated the cost of purchases and said goodbye.

The UK was broken down into ITV franchises and the worst scorer was the LWT region, covering London and the Southeast. The three highest scorers were the English and Scottish borders, East Anglia and the highlands of Scotland regions.

ESA head of marketing Guy Palmer said: 'It's primarily to do with the level of competition for staff. Stores that are forced to rely on casual workers, and this is particularly prevalent in London, find it more difficult to instil the culture and values of the company in their staff.'

The percentages below refer to how often ESA's shoppers were treated in a pleasant manner:

Border 95.7 per cent

Anglia92.9 per cent

Grampian 92.6 per cent

Ulster 92.2 per cent

Wales & West 91.8 per cent

Scottish 91.4 per cent

Central 90.4 per cent

Yorkshire 90.2 per cent

Granada 90 per cent

Tyne Tees 89.3 per cent

West Country 89 per cent