Unprovoked assault in Tescos, No CCTV, No Security, No help at all

seanparkin

Hi all, just a quick one really.

Last month I was assaulted unprovoked in Tescos (from behind as I was paying for my shopping) in the middle of a weekend afternoon.

Turns out that Tescos have NO cctv footage at all on that day, they had no security working on that day, and also despite all efforts from the police nobody in the store is helping them with their enquiries. After it happened the checkout assistant said she would help me with any enquiries, yet when the police went to speak to her she said she wanted nothing to do with it. Nobody else who was there wants anything to do with it, the store manager has refused to get back to the police with any information or anything at all.

The attack has left me with torn clothing, bust lip, a few bruises, and needing some fairly serious dental work for a cracked tooth and front teeth that have been knocked out of line, and are still a little painful even a month on.

Firstly, who should I write to complain about the store? Surely they have a duty to protect the public, and not having any CCTV, Security or not even assisting the police with any enquiries is not doing that.

Secondly, does anybody know how on earth I'm going to go about getting my teeth sorted when I have no money to do so? The policeman looking after this says he might have a lead, but even if they do get hold of him theres not even a great chance of any compensation.

Thanks in advance!

brightonman123

surely the checkouts would be covered by cctv? might be worth a data protection act request, or complaint to the store manager, or health and asafety dept at HQ, as surely they have a (moral, if not legal?) duty to protect customers and staff while on their premises..

Sagz_2

I'm with Brigtonman - the checkouts must be covered by CCTV .... if not Tesco have just revealed a HUGE loophole in their security!

seanparkin

Exactly my point!

One point I forgot to mention, is that it was a very hot bank holiday.

Nope, the officer looking after me said he asked them for the CCTV footage and was told that 'it didn't cover that far up the store'. He asked for CCTV footage of anywhere (carparks, store entrance etc) and they plainly did not give it to him. I repeatedly asked them when it happened if they had it on CCTV, they all looked at each other blankly and sorta gave a response like 'uh... um... yeah?'

As mentioned, they had no security on that day either.

I had thought about the DPA request, although if the police have asked them and they don't have any footage, I'm guessing a DPA request wont suddenly make the footage appear. I'm guessing that as there was no security on, nobody bothered to think about turning the CCTV on or something.

The police have already been in touch with the store manager several times, and he has plainly just ignored any requests for information etc. I doubt if the store manager cant be bothered to respond to police requests, then I sincerely doubt the 'safety department' will do any better

I figured they may have some sort of legal duty to protect the public inside their stores, but I don't know much about things like that!

Troubled_Joe

They have duties to any visitors to their premises but I don't think you'd be successful in arguing that these extend to having CCTV or security otherwise the same burden would be on all shops.

As you seem to have no way of tracing the person you cannot make a personal injury claim against him/her.

All I can suggest is that you approach the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Contact a local solicitor who should be able to assist.

tuggy

Will the NHS not help you with your teeth, especially if they are still sore? I know they wont do cosmetic work but if you are in pain they may "have" to help?

seanparkin

Tuggy, I had thought about that, but from knowledge of somebody a few years ago I'd rather not.

He went to the NHS and they just pulled the offending tooth out. I'd rather keep a slightly wonky tooth and have a bit of pain than look like that to be honest

dmg24

The duty that Tesco has is to protect customers and staff from reasonably foreseeable hazards. No one could have predicted a random attack, so they have not failed in their duty.

It is possible that they did not have CCTV recording in that area, or even anywhere, at that time. It would be nice if they just said that this was the case, but legally they have not done anything wrong by not operating CCTV (though they may have broken company policy).

BTW it is Tesco, not Tescos!

hollydays

I am a bit puzzled why you havn't described more what happened in the attack,the circumstances?

The Police have to investigate the offence,and the store have to cooperate.
The store,by Data Protection laws,have to keep a log of when the tapes or discs were placed in and recorded.
Is the Pc aware of this,has he asked to see the log?
What did it say?
Even though there was no security guard on duty,they usually have a system in place that the duty manager,for example,puts the tapes in.But the log would show if he forgot to.(if the log shows he put the tapes in,but forgot to press the record button ,then the previous months date would show)

Someone is trying to cover something up I would say.

If the Police left it too long before they requested the recordings(say more than 28 days) (and particularly if they are tapes rather than digital) the store could have recorded over them.Or the Police asked the store to put the tapes aside and they didn't.
The police (and a lawyer) could request all recordings for that time be produced,whether or not they claim they have anything recorded on them.

seanparkin

There isn't any more to say about the attack, as I said, it was unprovoked, as I was paying for my shopping I was grabbed from behind and punched several times in the face by somebody i had never seen before in my life. He was shouting something about the car park but I was kind of busy trying not to get hit anymore!

The police are being more than helpful, and they think they have a good lead on them. The store however, from what I've been told, have been far from helpful and have completely ignored any requests from the police.

The info about the logs of tapes/discs etc is useful thanks, I didnt know about that (and I don't know whether the officer does either). I agree that somebody is trying to cover something up, and I'm pretty sure I've already figured out what!

hollydays

Are you/were you a regular r & r person in Tesco,( I see some comments from 2006)is this why they are refusing to help?