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I got assualted in Tesco!
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debtdestroyer_2
Posts: 29 Forumite
Just going to copy and paste my account of what happened for now, going to the police station to give a statement in a bit.
On 22nd Novemeber 2007 I entered Tesco in Victoria Centre Nottingham. At approx 20.00 I approached the checkout with a plastic bag of discounted bananas, one of which I had removed as it was unfit for sale. I was told Tesco would not honour the discount as I had opened the bag. At this point I took a picture of the banana I removed, and informed the staff I as going to be sending it to trading standards/environmental health. A staff member, who would best be described as off oriental origin, grabbed my left shoulder and lunged at my phone. He got on his radio and I began exiting the store. At this point I as accosted by 2 more staff members, who informed me that it was illegal to take photographs inside the store. I began to leave and a male security guard attempted to block my path with his body. I tried to step around him but to no avail. At this point a number of other security guards and staff members surrounded me and behaved in an extremely intimidating manner. They all blocked my route of exit. They asked me to explain what had happened to the duty manager and I tried to explain but felt I was too frightened (my hands were literally shaking) to continue the conversation. Again I tried to leave and was stopped by the guards, at which point I informed them that this was false imprisonment. I informed the store manager that this was a civil, and not a criminal matter and that if needed I would give him my contact details so this could be pursued further. The guards then allowed me to leave.
On 22nd Novemeber 2007 I entered Tesco in Victoria Centre Nottingham. At approx 20.00 I approached the checkout with a plastic bag of discounted bananas, one of which I had removed as it was unfit for sale. I was told Tesco would not honour the discount as I had opened the bag. At this point I took a picture of the banana I removed, and informed the staff I as going to be sending it to trading standards/environmental health. A staff member, who would best be described as off oriental origin, grabbed my left shoulder and lunged at my phone. He got on his radio and I began exiting the store. At this point I as accosted by 2 more staff members, who informed me that it was illegal to take photographs inside the store. I began to leave and a male security guard attempted to block my path with his body. I tried to step around him but to no avail. At this point a number of other security guards and staff members surrounded me and behaved in an extremely intimidating manner. They all blocked my route of exit. They asked me to explain what had happened to the duty manager and I tried to explain but felt I was too frightened (my hands were literally shaking) to continue the conversation. Again I tried to leave and was stopped by the guards, at which point I informed them that this was false imprisonment. I informed the store manager that this was a civil, and not a criminal matter and that if needed I would give him my contact details so this could be pursued further. The guards then allowed me to leave.
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You'll get nowhere with the police and this, they may take a report and even go speak to the store but you'll get nowhere with it.
You wouldn't have got anywhere sending a pic to trading standards/environmental health either - may its a lesson to not be so confrontational and not inflame a situation if you get so nervous when it could go wrong.0 -
Maybe you should have waited until you got home to open the bag. After all you were going to be charged the same price with or without the offending banana.0
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Why are you going to the police?!!
You do appear to have been rather confrontational, even from your own account of things.
I am pretty sure that it says behind Customer Services that photography is not allowed in store.Gone ... or have I?0 -
<P>debtdestroyer wrote: »Just going to copy and paste my account of what happened for now, going to the police station to give a statement in a bit.</P>
<P> </P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">On 22nd Novemeber 2007 I entered Tesco in Victoria Centre Nottingham. At approx 20.00 I approached the checkout with a plastic bag of discounted bananas, one of which I had removed as it was unfit for sale. I was told Tesco would not honour the discount as I had opened the bag. At this point I took a picture of the banana I removed, and informed the staff I as going to be sending it to trading standards/environmental health. A staff member, who would best be described as off oriental origin, grabbed my left shoulder and lunged at my phone. He got on his radio and I began exiting the store. At this point I as accosted by 2 more staff members, who informed me that it was illegal to take photographs inside the store. I began to leave and a male security guard attempted to block my path with his body. I tried to step around him but to no avail. At this point a number of other security guards and staff members surrounded me and behaved in an extremely intimidating manner. They all blocked my route of exit. They asked me to explain what had happened to the duty manager and I tried to explain but felt I was too frightened (my hands were literally shaking) to continue the conversation. Again I tried to leave and was stopped by the guards, at which point I informed them that this was false imprisonment. I informed the store manager that this was a civil, and not a criminal matter and that if needed I would give him my contact details so this could be pursued further. The guards then allowed me to leave.
You were looking for trouble...you found it...your problem is?0 -
While not condoning in anyway the way you were treated by staff, I think that you were in the wrong initially.
Why was the banana unfit for sale?
You should have pointed this out to a member of staff rather than make an arbitrary decision.
You opened a bag and removed an item. This bag was not yours to open as you had not purchased it and therefore was still the property of the store.We all evolve - get on with it0 -
Not what the OP wanted to hear I imagine.Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time0 -
Can I ask a stupid question?
Why do Tesco's (and others) put bananas in plastic bags in the first place??0 -
Think they only put value ones in bags, the others are looseThrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time0 -
Sounds to me like the whole situation got out of hand, but the staff do seem to have been heavy handed.
There may or may not be a policy about taking photos of rotten fruit, but the staff appear to have taken it too far.
The fruit was 'discontinued' anyway, which means the odd one might be bad, perhaps it would have been better to buy them and take the offending banana out of the bag outside and put it in a bin.........but then hindsight is a wise and wealthy man.
We only have the OPs version here, so may not know the full picture, but I would have thought the staff reaction was overly agressive in the situation.
He had not stollen anything, not physically threatened anyone, just removed a banana from a bag and taken a picture of it!!
If this has genually shook you up, it will probably do you good to talk to the police and 'get it all out'. Incidences like this can be distressing and its obviously shook you up.
Even if you were in the wrong to take a photo, the staff reacted inappropriatly, and I would have thought you should get an apology.
If they send you some gift vouchers, dont spend it on fruit!!
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Just out of interest, is it illegal to take photos in the store? We're getting closer and closer to the stage where each of us could record our surroundings 24 hours a day. Most people have a camera on them in terms of their mobile. I guess being a private establishment they could ask you to leave if you did but I'm not sure it was illegal to do it in the first place."She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0
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