Please help!

woody01

Uncertain wrote: »

I think this whole thing is a bit more complicated that many of the ignorant tirades above would suggest.

OK, a shop can ban an individual for pretty much any reason they like (as long as it is not race, disability or sex discrimination). The don't have to accept your custom or have you on their premises.

It may be that all the shops in a shopping centre will have agreed that if one bans an individual then all will. Possibly legal but maybe not. However, in any case, I would doubt if such an agreement exists. You could imagine a scenario where a sweet shop might ban an obnoxious customer who is rude to their staff. However, another shop puts up with their terrible attitude because they are a big spender.

However, in this case one shop's decision to ban is preventing the OP from earning their living. Presumably the shop does not have sufficient evidence to convince the police to prosecute. So, they are saying "despite this, we have decided to prevent your employee from getting to work". Their are clear data protection implications if they share their "evidence" with her employer.

I don't in any way condone theft but equally I don't condone kangaroo courts either.

I would suggest the OP takes some professional legal advice.

Did you actually bother to read the thread?
There are no data protection implications.

She has been banned from the shopping centre......therefore cannot get to her place of work.

DarkConvict

lolipop177 wrote: »

Thank you all for your opinions! it was very helpful. Believe me this experience has affected me so much that I cant eat, sleep or even think of shopping! I am so stupid and I will never forget this.:( I work for a big retail brand so they have lots of other shops around the city, also security has told me that they will wait for the respond from the head office so I may get back but I dont think I wish to get back. It is so embarassing and I am not a thief even though it's hard to believe but I am not, even my manager said she will say just good words about me to HRM because I have good perfomance records and I was never a problematic person. I may lose the job, which is not the end of the world, because I am a student and have other experiences besides retail. I am really happy to learn that it won't show on CRB! Also, I am still waiting from civil recovery and I am ready to pay the penalty no matter how big it is!

Thank you all once again!

Indeed to the above posts, grats for having the guts to post on here.

Hopefully you will be okay, but things could obviously have already gone alot worse

myothercarisaferrari

what did you nick?

Button21

OP, here is a link to a Citizens Advice Report on Civil Recovery.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/retail-loss-prevention/237416-civil-recovery-cab-report.html

jessicamb

Without wanting to attach the OP if I was a shop manager and I became aware of a member of staff caught stealing I would expect to manage that person out of the business. Trust is obviously very important in retail and I would not feel able to trust that employee. The only alternative would be to give that employee less responsible jobs to carry out. Hopefully the OPs employer is a nicer person than me.

Something for the OP to think about though - if you do keep your job, if there are future instances of staff stealing in your workplace the suspicions could well fall onto you with or without proof. That could make working there very difficult.

Fire_Fox

woody01 wrote: »

By the same token, i am CERTAIN, that a teenager on some random housing estate up North, would see nothing wrong with carrying a knife.

Every single teenager on every single housing estate in the whole of the north of the country thinks it is acceptable to carry a knife??? :rotfl: Have you asked them all one by one or did you read that in the Daily Mail? Could you fit any more prejudices into one sentence - perhaps you could edit in a little ethnicity?

None of the 11,799 Bebo friends of the 'it doesn't have to happen' campaign live on a northern housing estate then?
http://www.bebo.com/itdoesnthavetohappen

And you think that the northern English and all Scottish youth parliament representatives secretly support illegal weapons??
http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/
http://www.syp.org.uk/

dickydonkin

Originally Posted by woody01
By the same token, i am CERTAIN, that a teenager on some random housing estate up North, would see nothing wrong with carrying a knife.

No stereotyping here then.:whistle:

So a teenager on some 'random housing estate' down South would find carrying a knife unacceptable then? Hmmmmmmmmmmm...Interesting.

Now I stand to be corrected, but remind me, where is there is a current epidemic of gang related knife murders?:think:

Clue........Within the boundary of the M25...

Now, where's me cloth cap and whippets.......?

Back on topic...

The link from Button21 which directs to the CAB document on Civil Recovery is a good one if a little one sided, however, it does highlight some 'unreasonable demands' from the retailer and those agencies recovering the losses.

However, whether they are unfair or not, alleged offenders are still being pursued for the retailers 'losses' by recovery agencies and are within their rights to do so.

There is of course one obvious way to prevent harrassment from such agencies - dont steal!

loisa

Stay well away from this shopping centre if you really want to put all this behind you.

With a bit of luck it shouldn't need to affect your chances of finding another job. If you think about it, most big retailers have processes in place for checking up on all their own staff like random searches. They don't just take the referee's word for it or assume that everyone is honest and trustworthy until proven otherwise. You are less likely to do it again if anything.

Uncertain

woody01 wrote: »

Surely you agree see that none of those to theft and are not in the same sphere.

Theft is EXACTLY what file sharing and copying DVDs is!

Try running a business that depends on protecting its intellectual property!

Furthermore, in response to your other equally stupid post, yes I did read the thread. If you had you would have seen that I had already posted further up.

My point was simply to question the legal (not moral) effect on the OP being effectively banned from her place of work by the actions of another business.

And yes there are data protection implications if Boots share their "evidence" (which they presumably feel is inadequate to obtain a conviction) with her employer.

Juicyloo

By the same token, i am CERTAIN, that a teenager on some random housing estate up North, would see nothing wrong with carrying a knife.

Don't you dare label the North- sleasy londerners and southerners are much worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about discrimination.