Your rights in the UK if accused of shoplifting?

jenniewb

OK- my THIRD TIME AT REPLYING!! (Talktalk are rubbish at broadband connection people!!)

OK, I used to work on the door as security (not a guard) at a fashion retail store not long ago. And the rights as far as we were told...

The store staff have the rights to detain you if they think you have stolen something. They do not have the right to search your bag but will ask and if you say yes. They will search themselves if you say no, they will need you to handle everything in front of them- its not a right, but you may want to consider them searching as it often means they can let you go earlier if they do not search anything.

If you refuse a search, and they believe they have seen you steal something/the alarms go off, they can detain you on site. It is their right as it is their store and what they are making is a citizens arrest- anyone can make a CA, its a detainment until the police arrive or you are taken to a station, whichever required.

Some stores do work on the principal or an in store settlement as oppose to calling and bothering the police. They often decide to do this if they think your not a big deal/going to learn from being banned/the value of what you have is not worth them bothering the police about/they have recently just had the police out

They do have the right to take items if they are 100% you have stolen them from the store. They can call the police in who will either issue a caution, a fine or both, or arrest for various other things to come (community service or prison) it will be on your record which can affect you in many ways after the whole thing is over- so its in your interest to comply unless you are 100% sure they are wrong and yu are wrongfully being detained.

Banning they will do and by law you are meant to follow their rules- if you don't, they can and will arrest you as a store is private land and similar to you not wanting someone you don't trust in your store, they will not want someone they suspect of theft in their store- its a liability.

If you believe they have banned you for something you have done, personally I would want to prove my innocents- maybe thats just because I have worked on the other side and know the chatter and gossip that will follow (shop work really is that dull that a shop lifter can really give us something to talk about- and gossip for a good few hours!!) so I would have had my boyfriend come in to save me (heroic moment here...) and flash all the receipts at the guard which would all have dates or times on. I would also have asked that they show me on camera any evidence they had, and indeed any tags that set off the alarms- if there were any on me. Added to that, I would expect my items back and a full apology from the staff. I probably would not have the guts to go back again, but its the principal of the issue.

betterbargains4u

Get yourself some good legal advice...as soon as you possibly can, as they have acted illegally in detaining you, with no proof, and also they had absolutely no right whatsoever to confiscate your goods, bought elsewhere. Even if you didn't have receipts for the goods and even if the said goods were not in bags.
The only people that have this right in this particular instance, are the Police...who if the store detectives thought you had been shoplifting, should have been called.
I worked as a store detective for over 10 years...so I do know what I am talking about here.
Firstly they have detained you illegally (they have not seen SCONE....explained below) and searched your bag...finding nothing stolen from their store.
Secondly..they have illegally confiscated your possessions, without proof that they were in fact stolen items.
To secure a successful stop, a store detective needs to observe all of the below factors of S.C.O.N.E.
S = Selection of item
C = Concealment of item
O = Observation of shoplifter at all times since seeing the two above things
N = Non payment of item
E = Escape

As they have not seen any of the above (as they were alerted by the alarm) they had no good reason to detain you against your will.
As you have now stated that your boyfriend has indeed got the receipts for the items that were found in your bag and that they have confiscated..you have a rock solid case against the store in question.
Like I said...get legal advice on this matter sooner rather than later...ie go and see a solicitor who offers free initial legal advice, before taking on a case.
Mostly, these matters do not go to court, as the store will pay you compensation, rather than taking the risk of a costly court case.
Best of luck.

P.S...I would love it if this happened to me, as I would definately not have moved from the store and demanded that the police be called. I would then take the store to the cleaners, for as much compensation as I could get.

JAG

katie85 wrote: »

I was in a shop today and when I walked through the security gate the alarm went off. Having nothing to hide, I went back to the counter and they searched my bag. Inside my handbag I had several garments that had been purchased that day.

So the items you purchased form other stores had tagged security tags on them, which were not removed when purchased? Didn't these stores security alarms go off when you exited?

zenseeker

poppet wrote: »

Well it's a good job your BF has the receipts, now you can go marching back in there waving the receipts under their nose and demand your belongings back!

That seems like the easy and obvious thing to do, unless they have been thrown away (or the OP isn't being 100% honest here, some of this scenario doesn't add up...tags still on items, bf has receipts and convieniently isn't around...).

Lesson here is simple, keep reciepts with the items you purchased.

betterbargains4u

zenseeker wrote: »

That seems like the easy and obvious thing to do, unless they have been thrown away (or the OP isn't being 100% honest here, some of this scenario doesn't add up...tags still on items, bf has receipts and convieniently isn't around...).

Lesson here is simple, keep reciepts with the items you purchased.

Please don't judge people on the way you would do things!!
Even if the Op was a shoplifter...which I very much doubt, the whole issue is with the way she was treated in the shop where she was detained.
They have acted illegally.

hieveryone

To be fair the OP hasn't said that any items still had tags on (i.e the security ones), but I do agree something doesn't add up here.

rainbow_carnage

I'm not a girly girl. I don't use a handbag. I have a large messenger bag which holds my laptop, camera and water bottle. If I buy something, I try to cram it into my bag, rather than bother with a plastic carrier bag. The only time I'll ask for a carrier bag is if the item is very large, or my bag is full.

I almost never return things, so I don't really keep track of receipts unless I know in advance that I may need it. It's too much hassle, and I'm not that organised. I certainly wouldn't keep a receipt for an eye liner or a pair of underpants.

I can totally identify with the OP. Not everyone is anal enough to keep purchases in separate bags, each with a corresponding receipt. If I go shopping with my husband, whichever one of us is standing closer to the till pays. We share all of our finances, so it makes no difference. Half of the time, he's the one paying for my purchases. He usually just shoves the receipt in his pocket.

I can't believe how suspicious some of you are. I'm happy to believe the OP's story. Just because you do something a certain way, doesn't mean that everyone else does. Frankly, I think that people who keep track of every receipt for each small purchase need to a get a life.

Katie, I hope you get your things back.

Kingsd316

Reading through this make me think the OP got a five fingered discount from other stores, then went into the shop in question, maybe didnt steal anything but the tags on the clothes from the previous store set the alarms of, maybe the tin foil lining in the handbag ripped :rolleyes: which is why they got collered!

hayley11

Kingsd316 wrote: »

Reading through this make me think the OP got a five fingered discount from other stores, then went into the shop in question, maybe didnt steal anything but the tags on the clothes from the previous store set the alarms of, maybe the tin foil lining in the handbag ripped :rolleyes: which is why they got collered!

Those alarms go off all the time for no reason. Try not to be so judgemental, it's bad for your health

Kingsd316

hayley11 wrote: »

Those alarms go off all the time for no reason. Try not to be so judgemental, it's bad for your health

Agreed, but....

Only the police have the right to remove items from you, not store security, regardless of if they have a receipt or not, if the items in question are not from their store and they have nothing on them that would suggest they had stollen from said store then they would not issue a banning order, this smells fishier than than captain birdseyes hands!


AND

If i am completely wrong and now the OP has proof that she purchased the items legally then i would be ringing every newspaper in the country!