A WOMAN who describes herself as 'a Cheshire girl with a French accent' has spoken of her shock about being racially abused in a Northwich supermarket.

Speaking exclusively The Guardian, the 53-year-old, who requested not to be named, described how she has lived in the area for nearly 30 years, and blamed the rise in racist incidents on Brexit.

It is the second report of racism in local supermarkets in a matter of weeks, with this incident taking place in Lidl on Friday, December 11, when the woman, a former French language teacher from Belgium, asked a young male to put on a mask.

She said: "I was shopping normally in the store and there were three lads in there messing around.

"Two of them were wearing masks and one of them had his pulled down by his chin and they were clearly trying to provoke people.

"They were so close to me and because of Covid I reacted and said, 'please do you mind putting your mask up'.

"I got abused by him straight away, telling me 'to go back to your f*****g country you cow'.

"I was seriously upset.

"I'm a very strong person and normally I have an answer for everything but I was just speechless."

She went on to describe how, with tears in her eyes, she walked to the checkout to tell one of the staff she knew what had happened, and security were immediately called.

"When I was at the till people were asking me if I was ok and an old lady shouted at the lads to get out of the shop as they were being asked to leave," she explained.

"I just wanted to go home.

"But I was scared to go out of the shop so I asked the security guard to walk me back to my car as I thought they might have been waiting for me.

"It's like some people think they have the right to say whatever they want now."

Having moved to the UK in 1993, the woman recalled how she considers Brexit to have played a massive role in a change in behaviour and attitude.

"Since Brexit I have felt uncomfortable.

"Something broke that day four years ago and we've never been the same after it.

"Until last week, I've never experienced anything like this.

"It's opening more doors for more of this kind of abuse.

"It was really shocking as I never would have believed I would be made to feel unwelcome in England in the 21st century.

"When I met my British husband in the early 1990's, everywhere felt more free than it does now, we never questioned ourselves, ever.

"We're a little town in Northwich and now there's been two incidents in two weeks."

Having lived in the UK for longer than she did her native Belgium, the woman said the delays in agreeing a deal with the EU have created so much uncertainty about the status of many Europeans who call this country home.

She said: "I don't wish anyone to be in the situation.

"It will be interesting to see what happens in January and what it will mean for people like me.

"People think it's ok to say 'go back to your country' but this is my country.

"This is where I have my friends, my home, my husband, my children and my dogs.

"The uncertainty it has created makes me wonder if we will one day be treated like the Windrush generation.

"When I talk to people these days, it feels like I almost need to justify why I'm living here.

"I say I'm just a Cheshire girl with a French accent.

"Scots people don't lose their accent, Irish people don't lose their accent, neither to people from London, so why should I?"

The woman chose not to report the matter to the police because she felt it would be 'pointless' and that she didn't want to just become 'another statistic'.

A spokesman for Lidl said: "Under no circumstances do we condone or tolerate any form of discrimination and take any such behaviour extremely seriously. "We can confirm that as soon as our store team were made aware of this incident those in question were removed from the store.

"We encourage customers, should they require any assistance in store, to speak to a member of the team."