Young girl receives her birthday wish to work in Tesco with her mum and sister.

When six-year-old Lucy Redburne was asked what she would like for her sixth birthday she said she wanted to work in Tesco “like mummy and Abba”. Nyk Redburne, mum and Abbie Redbrune, sister, both work on the checkouts at the Tesco in Kingsbridge.

Nyk asked if this would be possible and Compliance Manager Stacey Oliver thought it was a wonderful idea. She typed a formal letter which officially invited Lucy to come in for a birthday celebration shift.

Lucy was given the letter the day before her birthday which also contained her staff canteen card for break time and a staff badge for her to wear.

“She then spent the rest of the evening dancing around the front room singing “I’m going to work at Tescos” explained Nyk.

“She was very happy and said it was the bestest birthday present ever.”

Nyk and her husband run a vinyl graphics company, Red Hot Vinyls Graphics and so they were able to make Lucy her own uniform t-shirt to wear for the occasion.

They turned the Tesco slogan ‘Every Little Helps’ into ‘Every Little Person Helps” and added her name to the front.

On her birthday, Thursday, January 18, they decorated till 15 with banners and balloons and went off to collect her from school. “Apparently she had spoken about nothing else all day” added Nyk.

“We got her to Tesco and took her to clock in and changed her into her work uniform. She came down on to the shop floor and as I was also in uniform, a customer asked me where an item was.

“Lucy immediately sprang into action without hesitation and told the lady where the chocolate custard was, leading her straight to the right aisle.”

Lucy then spent the next hour serving customers and learning how to work the till. Nyk stood behind her to help with weighing produce because she couldn’t reach the buttons without leaning on the scales. Lucy’s mum also handled any cash payments and handed Lucy the change to give back to the customers.

Lucy gathered £3 in tips from some of the lovely customers she served and others popped some change into the pots for the Tesco charities of the year.

After an hour, Lucy had her break to spend her money on the staff canteen card and to have her birthday cake.

With another hour of work she was exhausted and was looking forward to spending her birthday money on some L.O.L. Dolls.

Nyk added: “She had a lovely time working at Tesco and she can’t wait until she is 16 so she can work in there for real. We have said we will try and get her to work in Tesco every year on her birthday which will be great for her CV.”