I got assualted in Tesco!

Hapless_2

You don't see black bananas for sale normally do you?! Hence there is something inherently unacceptable about a black banana

there is nothing wrong with black bananas, they are safe to eat, good for winemaking and for banana bread. OH says they only sell when black in Durban as no one will eat them yellow.

kammyk

Come on arguing over a pack of bananas is a bit drastic is it not?

I like saving money but arguing over a few pennies wont break the bank. If the packet had rotten bananas in it then why buy that packet? If your gonna go complaining about it to health and safety - I think thats pretty sad.

I imagine you walked in all high and mighty thinking the people that worked in tesco were below you, and talked to them with attitude.

Its not your job to pack and unpack the bananas! in fact you should not be allowed to - you could have thrown the rotten banana away when you got home?! Its like going to an off licence getting a small bottle of coke empytying some of its content then grabbing a bottle of jack daniels and mixing it with the coke and expecting to pay for the coke.

I think you should just go into the store and pick whats available without becoming the health and safety police.

I think the security guard wanted to stop you and ask what you were doing, they have the right to stop you and escort you to the manager. Much like they are allowed to stop shop lifters.

Dont waste your time by going to the police! they wont take it seriously!

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.

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.

superscaper

kammyk wrote: »

they have the right to stop you and escort you to the manager. Much like they are allowed to stop shop lifters.

What kind of totalitarian country do you live in? They have no right to escort you anywhere. They have no warrant card to give them power to restrict your movements. The only time they can control your physical movement is by citizen's arrest which requires some sort of genuine reason (criminal act) which is no more power than any member of the public. Even with shoplifters, it is technically a citizen's arrest, which any member of the public can do. If the OP wanted to leave the premises, the security guard has NO legal right or power to stop him. Don't let the mere fact they have a "uniform" make you think that comes with some sort of extra legally recognised power, it doesn't.

maninthestreet

"I think the security guard wanted to stop you and ask what you were doing, they have the right to stop you and escort you to the manager. Much like they are allowed to stop shop lifters."

No they don't! They have no more powers than any ordinary member of the public. As superscraper stated, they can use a citizen's arrest to detain a shoplifter - but they have no powers to detain anyone that hasn't committed a criminal offence - that would be false imprisonment.

Poppy9

debtdestroyer wrote: »

Regardless of this the staff do not have the right to assult/detain customers for this - this is my point.

The sales assistant had no right to assault you but the security staff may have 'believed' they had the right to because when the SA got on the radio they probably just called for assistance. I doubt they had time to relay the fully sorry saga of the missing banana:rolleyes: . You said yourself you were leaving the store so presumably you were only buying bananas or you abandoned the rest of your shopping sharpish.

debtdestroyer wrote:

And just to be clear the banana was most definitely unfit for sale. I would upload the picture but I dont want to jepordise any legal action that may occur.

whether it was fit for sale does not excuse your actions. You deliberately removed one item from a package for your benefit. You had no right to interfere with the shops goods before you had purchased them.

debtdestroyer wrote:

And as I said its not about the bloody banana!! Its about having the right to disagree with whats being sold without being assulted, harassed and illegally detained.

You didn't disagree with what was being sold. If you had you would have spoken to someone about it. Instead you just proceeded to the checkout to pay for goods 'you' had decided were suitable. From your statement the security staff asked you to explain but you refused so you dragged the situation out.

debtdestroyer wrote:

Some people seem to have missed the point that I have been treated appallingly.

When the SA made a grab for your mobile how did you defend yourself? My instinct would be to push or hit their hand out of the way.

debtdestroyer wrote:

Stop arguing about the banana and look at the bigger picture - as one poster pointed out howd you all feel if it was your mum or gran this had happened to?

The bigger picture is looking at your actions and how they caused the situation to arise. If you had not interfered with goods, which you had no right to interfere with, none of this would have happened.

As I see it the shop could take action against you for interfering with their goods. The best you can hope for in this situation is an apology for the original SA grabbing your shoulder and a lifetime ban from the store.

Security guards are meant to be intimidating to stop people leaving the store with goods they haven't paid for.

webtalk

:rotfl:Hoo boy, thanks for the laugh. It is the best I've had all week. :rotfl:

If you didn't like what was in the pack, why in heaven's name select it in the first place? :huh:

And if you'd just noticed that it was off at the tills you should've just dumped the entire pack if you weren't prepared to pay for it 'as seen'. :doh:

You are neither blameless nor a victim.

Oh, and if my mother or grandmother had done what you'd done, and then been harrassed by the security staff, I'd have still pointed out that they were certainly not innocent victims in the entire scenario. I'd also have pointed out that they had a very definite hand in what transpired.

Take responsibility for your actions. :T

C_Ronaldo

Debt destroyer can i ask why you chose to remove the banana you took dislike to, you hadnt payed for them so it wasnt your choice to remove the banana you didnt like, if id seen a pack of bananas which were reduced id look at them and depending on the price id buy them, if 1 of the bananas were to be not to my liking i wouldnt open the bag and choose which 1s i want or didnt want

fudgeukraine

you were offered an 'invitation to treat' of x amount of sealed banana's at 20p a kilo. The offer did not account for removing banana's you didn't want, it was either the whole bag or actually splashing the cash and buying decent bananas. Agree with what others say in that the OP sounds like he was spoiling for a fight.

He knew full well that he'd get a reaction by removing the banana right in front of the Checkouts 'to prove a point', and I reckon it's been completely over-exagerated to get a lot of support on here (from the many who despise the success of Tesco)

You can't go into a shop and just remove anything you want to not buy from a sealed packet. They're offered sealed and it's your choice to either buy them ALL, or none.

I'd like to hear the OPs explanation why they didn't raise the point with a sales assistant in the fruit section about why there was a rotten banana, rather deliberately wait till the full view of the checkouts, security, and management to remove it from a sealed packet!

debtdestroyer_2

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

Debt destroyer can i ask why you chose to remove the banana you took dislike to, you hadnt payed for them so it wasnt your choice to remove the banana you didnt like, if id seen a pack of bananas which were reduced id look at them and depending on the price id buy them, if 1 of the bananas were to be not to my liking i wouldnt open the bag and choose which 1s i want or didnt want

Your Q's answered in my prev posts.

fudgeukraineyou were offered an 'invitation to treat' of x amount of sealed banana's at 20p a kilo. The offer did not account for removing banana's you didn't want, it was either the whole bag or actually splashing the cash and buying decent bananas. Agree with what others say in that the OP sounds like he was spoiling for a fight.

He knew full well that he'd get a reaction by removing the banana right in front of the Checkouts 'to prove a point', and I reckon it's been completely over-exagerated to get a lot of support on here (from the many who despise the success of Tesco)

You can't go into a shop and just remove anything you want to not buy from a sealed packet. They're offered sealed and it's your choice to either buy them ALL, or none.

I'd like to hear the OPs explanation why they didn't raise the point with a sales assistant in the fruit section about why there was a rotten banana, rather deliberately wait till the full view of the checkouts, security, and management to remove it from a sealed packet!


At what point did I say I removed the banana in full view of the checkout staff et all? You have just created a fictonal version of events to comment on so Iwill fit an image of me you have built up by reading about 5 posts I wrote.

As for my account being over-exagerrated, you're entitled to your opinion, and your entitled to share it. Thats the beauty of a democracy. We are also entitled to take a photograph without being assualted, harassed and illegally detained. You may not believe in that right but I do.

Laws exist for a reason.

Seriously shocked by the many posters who have completely mis-interpreted what happened, and jumped straight on their high horse to berate me, generally involving a manipulation of the truth.

If someone actually puts a decent argument to me ill answer it, after all I did want to dsiscuss the incident - thats why I posted on here. However, im not going to get drawn into anymore arguments on technicallities regarding the banana.

Ill say it one more time:

It is illegal for a tesco staff member to grab at me and lunge at my mobile phone. This amounts to common assualt. I am perfectly within my rights to take a photograph. They did not once ask me to leave.

For those who are interested im expecting to hear from the police within the next 3 weeks.

Thanks to those who have actually been supportive, really appreciate it.

looby75

I have to admit I'm quite shocked at how many people seem to think it's ok for anyone to be manhandled and stopped from leaving a shop over something as silly as taking a photo of a banana.