Tesco Taking ACTION!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2024
- Free £50 when you switch energy suppliers:
share.octopus.energy/happy-hu...
Exclusive content: www.blackbeltbarrister.com
Become a Channel member: / @blackbeltbarrister
Support the channel: buy.stripe.com/14kdUS6gb4f26e...
or one-off: buy.stripe.com/bIYdUSfQLcLy7i...
TO CONTACT ME: Follow & Message on Instagram:
/ blackbeltbarrister
For FORMAL ADVICE Requests ONLY:
clerks@ShenSmith.com (non formal requests will be deleted)
💌 Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @blackbeltbarrister
MY CAMERA GEAR
🎥 Big Camera amzn.to/3tW8nPU (amazon link)
🎥 Small Camera amzn.to/2RB7ez9 (amazon link)
🎙 RODE VIDEOMic Pro+ amzn.to/2QCJURi (amazon link)
Gobe ND Filter amzn.to/2R3eEuA (amazon link)
Neewer Ring Light amzn.to/3aOkLtT (amazon link)
Switch Pod amzn.to/3sZb8yA (amazon link)
JOBY Tripod amzn.to/3dXJYDT (amazon link)
External Media Drive amzn.to/3uxNDOQ (amazon link)
BE PART OF OUR LAW COMMUNITY HERE:
/ blackbeltbarrister
/ blackbeltbarrister
/ blackbeltbarrister
/ blackbeltbarrister
🎓 Brilliant contract law book:
amzn.to/2PHC2O1 (Amazon link)
🎓 Excellent book with an overview of criminal law:
amzn.to/3gTPEAV (Amazon link)
🎓 Learn more about trespass and tort law:
amzn.to/32N6TLS
(Affiliate link)
LAW FAQS
• Common Law
CONSUMER LAW PLAYLIST:
• Consumer Law
TREE LAW PLAYLIST:
• Tree Law Miniseries
ROAD TRAFFIC LAW PLAYLIST:
• Road Traffic Law
FAMILY LAW PLAYLIST:
• Family Law
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
I'm a Barrister of England and Wales.
Videos for educational guidance only, Always seek advice before taking action. Videos on my channel are not legal advice and should not be taken as such. I accept no liability for any reliance placed upon the content of these videos or references, therein.
#blackbeltbarrister #lawvlogs
Description contains affiliate links; I will occasionally earn commissions from qualifying purchases or leads generated.
I am not enjoying life in our new non-accountability world.
Because we all just figured out what LIABILITY is in a commercial world.
The rot starts from the top.
@leavemyrightsalone in 1987, I was punched in the face by a shoplifter. Court awarded me £1500. To this day, I never had a penny of it. The shoplifter got 3 months. He was out in 2 months nicking again.
@@Emptywallsphotography Mate, I've been punched, had a snooker cue around my head, punched again and nothing. One went to court and the jury Said it never happened. So the pain and blood was all false, go figure!!! There is no justice!!!! doesn't exist. Don't pay your council tax, they throw you out of your own house. Go figure...
@@stephengraham1153 yes the rot started at top, lower part are catching up? still just evening things out and still not being as good at it? the best criminal at the very top of this tower/pyramid what ever iven get payed they well, for there crimes, and are even protected but the very top its self?
The judicial system in the UK is completely and utterly broken.
It's certainly not fit for purpose. But those Civil Recovery signs have been displayed in many shops for a long time!
Civil recovery has been around for years.
My local coop said the police don't come out for thefts under £500, and that was ten years ago, so you can imagine what it's like now.
I suspect that the vast majority of shop lifters do not get prosecuted.
On the other hand, supermarkets have made record profits during post covid, because they have been screwing us according to Which, and i agree, they have exploited the inflation rises.
Win or Lose ...... Lawyers always get paid .. Hence lies the problem . In the event of a World War , the only survivers will be Rats , Cockroaches and Lawyers !!!!! 😠🏴
Don't forget corrupt.
I worked in retail for fifteen years, including Tesco, who started actioning civil recovery before I left them and that was thirty years ago. As a member of the management teams in several retailers, I got sick and tired of the same old faces coming into the store, carrying those huge 'shoplifter' bags (you know the ones - those thick, check-printed woven nylon totes that hold a ton of stuff). Some of these crooks were so regular that our community of stores on the high street would have nicknames for them like 'Tyson', 'Gripper' or 'Smiler'. We risked life and limb by citizen's arresting these villains while having no idea whether or not they were tooled up. After the police arrived (who were often on first-name terms with some of the most regular offenders), they would take them away only for them to return hours later to do the same thing. And so on and so on. All that risk of being stabbed or shot for absolutely nothing. I sure was glad to get out of that industry.
That is why you don't put your own life at risk for a company that will drop you fast if you harmed the thief trying to stop them as they might sue you for damages if you hurt them trying to stop them and Tesco wont care and will sack you for it never ever put your life on line for a big corp that wont ever fight for you. Look what happens in America they told not to and if they do try stopping them they will be fired the same happens here.
Even security guards cant do much friend of mine use to be security at Tesco and he has no powers to stop a person by force if they get aggressive only allowed to block them but cant touch them as if he did he would lose his security license and be sacked he was only there to be a deterrent search bags ask people to leave and to report crime to police that's it.
I salute 🫡 u . I have a one Stop up the rd it's so convenient unfortunately shoplifters take the mickey and know the shop is up for sale smh . Alot of pensioners and just normal folk need that shop .
I Have similar experience to you. I managed for a high street retailer with pharmacy and fragrance counters (A particular favourite of shoplifters). When civil recovery became a thing we had head office pressure to pursue every incident no matter how small. It became a bottom-line obsession where every cost had to be included in a claim to "UP" the value for the business. Wages for security staff, management or staff involved were claimed and even a contribution to CCTV costs! It became embarrassing to make a claim of £200 for someone who stole a mars bar and a drink but less so for someone who had several bottles of fragrance stuffed down their trousers. The embarrassment came because we were no longer allowed to use discretion and we had to call the police to get a crime number to claim. Shoplifting has always been an issue and a dangerous activity to challenge but with our jobs being threatened if we went over our shrinkage budget, area managers would push us into dangerous situations because we could make money from it for the business. I'm so glad I got out as things are worse than ever now.
@@simon091068 Yeah, Simon, thanks for mentioning the shrinkage obsession! I wonder how many store manager suicides could be put down to that one word? I'm delighted to learn that you made the same decision as me and left it behind you.
Couldn't agree more. It is very effective, together with its criminal law equivalent, 'conditional cautions'.
They should be detained by putting them outside the store in Stocks.
I imagine it’s because the police have said they have orders not to prosecute shoplifters who steal less than £200 worth of goods. Some shops are being targeted everyday for amounts under £200 and the police refuse to treat the repeat instances as is single crime. Many shopkeeper say they are going bankrupt because of this!
The police don't prosecute the crown does that (CPS).
@@davidhooper1767 The police do not come out to arrest or gather evidence.
@@davidhooper1767 The point here is that the police will not press charges, for the CPS to make a judgement. The police should charge the culprit and let the CPS decide.
@@RonSeymour1 No the police gather the evidence and send that to the CPS.The CPS then decide if a charge should be authorised so the CPS is responsible.
@@davidhooper1767 you're splitting hairs the Police do not pass it on to the cps so it is the police that are choosing for it not to go forward.
Back in the mid 1990’s I worked for Tesco (in one of their new superstores) and civil recovery was definitely promoted at the doors and checkouts.
Civil recovery only works if the said shop lifter has an address
It's a flawed system. If the shoplifter has been forced to hand over the goods to the store before being taken away by the police then there are no grounds to sue for the value of the stolen items unless they have been damaged in some way. And as for recovering the value of other stolen items in previous incidents, unless they have proof the same person did the other thefts they can not be sued for the value of those items, even if they are regular shoplifters! You can not punish someone for the crimes of others.
@@j.tann1970 as said in the video the balance of probability is different to beyond a reasonable doubt. So there is a chance of recovering for previously suspected theft, of course you’d have to suspect it was them, but if you saw this known shoplifter right before stuff went missing then on the balance of probability you could say they did it. If no other known shoplifter was in the area at the time.
@@HeadRealThin the trouble with that is even with the facts you present there is not enough cause to sue as the possibility it's not them who stole the missing items is still high enough to cause serious doubt on the claim. Just because no other known shoplifter was in the store does not mean no other shoplifter was in the store, there are many more unknown ones than known. As they say in law all the time "correlation does not equal causation".
EDIT: And besides, even known shoplifters have days off! Just because they are in a store does not mean they are shoplifting. Granted the probability is high they are but it's not 100%. In most cases it would be low enough to not meet the balance of probability, they would have to be a very prolific shoplifter to be successfully sued on those grounds.
I find this shocking, shocking that a barrister shops in Tesco!
That's nonsense, I live opposite a Lidl which at the weekend has a carpark full of SUV's.
He's very likely a shareholder
I'm in Suffolk, and the Tesco in this town has had a few of those notices, on particular shelves, for several years, so not unusual here
Redneck country though tbf
Bring back the old days where shop staff are actually allowed to stop shop lifters. The whole system is now in favor of the shoplifter.
security can, and if normal staff can’t that’s down to the shop being scared of civil penalties. these retail support whatever officers aren’t sia licensed and aren’t contractors therefore the shop wants to avoid liabilities by avoiding physical contact, they aren’t true security and don’t conflate the two.
@ofwje normal shop security can't. They aren't guards anymore. They are classed as retail support officers and aren't allowed to lay hands on shoplifters. I work in retail and without trying to get myself in trouble, I will say that the rules of engagement have been completely changed.
"allowed" aka, we dont want to pay security so we are forcing min wage untrained staff to do it, and they can get fucked if they are jumped outside work for it. to hell with that.
@@davidthomas9190 My son-in-law is a security guard working for a well known supermarket brand and I can assure you that he has detained people on multiple occasions. He does need to be 100% certain that he has witnessed the theft before doing it though.
@@davidthomas9190 Nothing in the law prevents them from stopping shoplifters. They just need to not be idiots about it.
I have seen this sign before. I am sure honest shoppers will be 100% in favour of this.
All the honest shoppers pay for the loss anyway. They just raise their prices and we all foot the bill!
And potential shoplifters will not be 100% in favour of this either. 😁
@@SilverDomUK agreed and it's going to cost a whole lot more than the whisky or whatever they stole to take it to court.
I am an honest shopper, I only shop from home anyway for reasons I won't go into here. However, I do see a couple of problems with this scheme:
1) When shoplifters are caught they are usually forced to hand back the items they stole. Unless the item is unrecoverable, like they ate it or damaged it, the store would not have grounds to sue for the costs of stolen items if they have them back.
2) They can not sue a caught shoplifter for other lost items in previous shoplifting incidents where the shoplifters got away unless they have solid proof that same person stole those other items. It would be unfair to make one person pay for the crimes of another even if they are guilty themselves. No matter how much we would like that to happen it's just not legal to do so.
@@j.tann1970 This is not a new idea. Merely because TH-camr sees something does not make it news. This policy of some shoppers taking civil action against shoplifters has been around a long time. Why on earth are you defending shoplifting? This increases the cost to all shoppers even if you only have home delivery.
This has been a thing for years - ISTR reading they just pass it on to a debt collector to issue threatening letters, same tactic as private parking parasites
Good, I'm glad they're doing that! God speed tesco!
Civil Recovery has been a thing since well before Covid.
The main thing they sue small shoplifters for is their costs: not only court costs but also a proportion of the security costs.
I worked for Tesco for a year and a half and that sign has always been there
There have been signs like this at the front of the stores for years.
Back in my days as a store detective nearly 20 years ago it was standard to report all shoplifters to the Civil Recovery Scheme. It wasnt just a warning or a deterrent, I personally have reported hundreds of shoplifters to this scheme, regardless if police were called or not.
I worked in Retail Security for Tesco's back in the mid-1990's and Civil Recovery notices were displayed then and have remained since.
I retired from Tesco 2003 after 32 years. This was in place in 2003. As far as im aware it to stop customers' grazing. The times I picked up apple cores, crisp packets, sweet wrappers. If you saw them dump a wrapper, you pick it up and ask them to pay for it. There was no guessing you had to see them pick up eat and dump. Those were the days you dealt with shoplifters. Not like that nowadays to many get away with it. I retired due to injury not age at 47.
lol, at my local Tesco the checkout person said they recently watched a gang of 6-7 people walk out with a dozen bottles of vodka/gin/whisky etc and the security and tesco staff just stood by as they have been told not to engage.
It's been a thing for at least 25 years. Used to use this all the time when I was involved in security. It's useful because the cost of all losses involved ould be clamed back, labour, damage and the items stolen can be claimed for.
I work in Tesco and honestly get disgusted how me and my colleagues are treated. Tescos needs to do FAR more for its colleges. Worse thing they ever did was get rid of security, then expect an ordinary college to be like a security guard...but if anything happens to that college Tescos will NOT support them.
James O'Brien covered this on an LBC show several years ago. I was under the impression that it wss for their security costs incurred. I called in and my point was basically "if you weren't nicking, they wouldnt need to spend money on security"
The civil recovery part has been ongoing in tesco in Scotland for many years. I'm a retired cop, 14 years up to now and the civil recovery has been in place for a long time before that.
Here in California, it is called victim restitution. Merchants cannot get restitution if the merchandise is returned in saleable condition; nor can they get the costs of apprehending the shoplifter (because the loss prevention get paid whether or not there is a theft).
Sorry to ask but has California become a lunatic asylum?
I saw a woman today blatantly take an item of the shelf in the chemist and put it inside her jacket. The shop assistant approached her and told her to put the product back on the shelf which he did. The shoplifter said “it’s tampons” as though that somehow explained it. She joined the queue and paid for what she was already carrying and left the shop. Just bizarre. I’m in my fifties and I’ve never seen anyone steal anything from a store until today. I think it must be true that blatant stealing is much more commonplace and accepted somehow.
I've seen this done in various shop's i've worked in. They steal some items but pay for the rest.
I saw a woman stealing a packet of cheese from Lidl a few years ago. She unloaded most of her shopping onto the conveyor belt, but then deliberately put her empty shopping bags down on top of the cheese which was still in the trolley before pushing the trolley through. Embarrassed to say I didn't do anything, but I'm sure if caught she would have just said it was a mistake and got away with it.
I worked in a hardware store for a while and at the end of every day, there would be lots of little empty plastic packets abandoned under the screws and washers display. People open the packets, slip the contents in their pockets, and drop the packet on the floor.
We shop assistants also took turns to stand at the door greeting people, but also to keep watch that no one was carrying shoplifted stuff out of the entry door. One night, I was put on late door duty. I had tried to get an earlier shift but no one would swap - and I had to be at the bus stop before the last bus. I kept calling for someone to trade places, no one would, and so I left my post 10 minutes early to catch my bus. It was later caught on camera that the moment I left my post, 2 men ran out of the entry grabbing armfuls of goods as they went. It was really embarrassing to watch the video and I have no sympathy for shoplifters.
My sister was/is a shoplifter (I don't know about now. I don't have anything to do with her anymore).
She had money to pay, she stole enough of it from me and my parents, and when she left home she defrauded it from the state. She got caught too, went to court, burst into tears (crocodile tears, I assure you. Good actor that one), said it was a mistake, got off free. Juries should have more training in reading people's reactions, especially those of manipulators and narcissists.
Another time, I was in the middle King's Lynn town centre, sat with my son on some benches, when we were suddenly surrounded by a shoplifter 'gang' of pensioners - showing off and laughing at what they had stolen from different shops! It was so surreal!
I picked up my son and left poste haste, just in case they'd been reported and I got roped in as a fellow suspect by police.
Maybe the industrial scale shoplifters steal meat etc is because they know they are almost certainly not going to get challenged, especially in stores with no door security. It's a 'might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb' scenario.
I worked in Tesco as a student almost 20 years ago and those signs were around then.
Civil recovery was going on in a store I used to work in back in 2004
Imagine going after these people they won't even have the money to pay the fine when the Time comes to pay they won't pay then you have to take them back to court costing more time and money
Who are "THESE PEOPLE"?
"then you have to take them back to court costing more time and money" The costs will just get added to the judgement debt, but you are correct, there will come a time when it's just not worth pursuing the debt any further and it will just be written off. If the shoplifter is an undischarged bankrupt there won't be much the court can do in ordering payment because the shoplifter's financial affairs will be in the hands of the official receiver.
What makes you think a shoplifter won't have the money to pay? Do you really think people shoplift just because they are poor?
Totally wrong.
They have blood and organs they could "donate" to cover the cost.
If you stare at the sound deadening long enough it looks like Swastika art.
now i can't unsee it
I like what a shop in the US is doing. Putting up CCTV images of thieves in the act so every knows who the thieves are.
I'm not sure if GDPR rules would allow that in the UK.
@@stephengraham1153 Well there's no expectation of privacy that can be reasonably argued so it might, but I suspect it would cause a PR problem for them, so probably not something they'd want to risk. Woke agendas often trump laws, facts and even reality in our new world.
@@stephengraham1153I'm a former Tesco and Sainsbury's worker. We weren't allowed to display pictures of thieves in the office or staffrooms because of GDPR.. let alone in the store. Only management were allowed to look at the photos of the thieves contained in a folder.
@@stephengraham1153 It would be perfectly acceptable in this instance.
Businesses cannot share images or identity detail with anyone other than an official body i.e Police or local authority. This is why the pub watch scheme became ineffective, because officially one venue cudnt pass on details of persons concerned before prosecution.
As Magistrate I would always award compensation to the shop to the value of good anyway, in addition to any sentence and victim surcharge. Is pretty standard.
Tesco’s have had those notices up for at least a couple of years, they started out mostly in the BWS aisles but have spread throughout the stores
My local shop used to have these signs on display but someone stole them.
Makes sense. Every little helps
How can they do this if Police will not get involved, criminal just tells them to fk off and gives no details, how can they detain you if the police refuse to attend? What are they going to do, hold you prisoner for life in the shop? Seems stupid what we need in proper Policing.
Just tell the police they hurt your feelings while shoplifting they would be there in minutes with the whole force to arrest them and get more time for mean words then the shoplifting.
They *can* detain you if they see the offence being committed, and then the police *will* attend if the criminal tries to play silly buggers.
Or police that can be bothered to do the job they are paid for.
Civil debt recovery been around in Tesco for years and I’ve always used it as a security guard, with cctv and the following the process I was filling 4-6 form in a week
Ah, Dan. Bear in mind the case of A Retailer v Ms B and Ms K in which a major retailer was found to have lied about their alleged losses. The case was heard at Oxford County Court before a civil Circuit Judge.
We did this in Asda in the 90's, it was very effective in a wealthier area but not in the poorer ones.
I’m not entirely sure what the system is called in Scotland, but not only is the thief fined for the cost of the item but also the CCTV, security guards, any other security system to protect the property and its contents as well as the insurance that the shop has had to have in place to cover any losses by theft. Effectively a £5 item that they tried to steal could cost them thousands of £££s
I'm guessing that is through the criminal court. It wouldn't be a fine otherwise. But in civil court, they would be limited to recovery of their loss plus some minor expenses. And if shown to be wrong, are open to a counter claim and potentially paying for defamation.
@@Mr-J...
Wow! Great legal insight 🙌
This is exactly what civil recovery is - a claim for ALL costs that the store incurs as a result of trying to prevent theft. I worked for Wilkos a while back, and when we actioned civil recovery the minimum amount was about £120, even if you'd only nicked a Bic biro....
This has been in stores for decades. It also includes time wasted by staff having to deal with the scumbags instead of filling the shelves. Sometimes staff have to wait hours for police to arrive with shoplifters being detained by security and staff.
The shops are also totting up repeat offenders, where they add the values of all the items stolen on multiple occasions that they often have on camera that then adds up to something worth recovering and that the offender may notice.
I saw a person leave a store in Vegas with a drink he didn’t pay for the manager shouted to security to Tazer him
This is decades old. Stores also issue banning notices, informing suspected thieves they’re banned for life from all properties owned by X company, with a view to getting individuals charged with burglary, should they return to shoplift again.
I have seen those civil recovery notices in a few tesco locations for several years now.
Yes. that's been there for a while, certainly in the Tesco that I shop in.
I see shop lifting almost everyday in my line of work as a HGV driver for a major company,and I can say for sure this: most of shop lifter are NOT in need ,they are kids or druggies stealing alcohol and sweets.and the worst is the motivation behind is because they can get away with it…shop staff get attacked when confronted this thief and parents from this kids also giving grief to shop staff.a very alarming situation when you are going to work and knowing your safety is at risk .something need to change and fast…
This was around in the 1980s. Woolworths,Boots.....
What would be good would be a video on the rules of Citizen's Arrest, when they can and can't be used, and the danger of unlawful detention.
I suspect that the real issue here is that the police will not even attend a report of shoplifting, unless the amount in question is over £200, according to recent newspaper reports.
Yup, I stopped working for Tesco about 8 years ago and those signs were definitely in use back then.
Obtaining judgement (including costs) against a shoplifter may be more straightforward than enforcing the judgement afterwards. If someone is living in rented accommodation and is living on benefits and is without valuable assets then the court could order repayment of such a minimal amount that it would take months, if not years to pay back the judgement debt. I agree that the notice will act more as a deterrent because pursuing a claim in court will be more trouble than it's worth.
The end game is that they will pay the CRS the full amount. Even 50 years.
I’ve seen these signs in a few supermarkets.
Recently, an Aldi store [Tannoyed] for a manager to attend a till, which was unusual. Some minutes later, an apparently regular, elderly and rather dishevelled gent was slowly paying in small change and a queue had formed. As the gent prepared to leave, the manager appeared and stated that he was now banned from the store, as the manager had scrolled back through CCTV footage and alleged that the gent had taken an Aldi "30% off" label and affixed it to goods which were not discounted.
The gent became distraught and, in essence, begged for mercy, including pleading with the till operator for support.
Whatever the product was, seemingly it was immediately obvious at the till that a fraud was being attempted.
The outcome is unknown.
Now when they over charge you at Aldi because it happens all the time and they get away with it by saying sorry ! Corporations are more criminals then the general public
I have worked in civil law all my life and one distinctive aspect of civil cases is that they are civil. No police, no arrests, no confrontational warnings. But shoplifters are often youths nicking the packets of Doritos as a dare, and prepared to use physical strength in a battle with security guards to escape. That smacks of police action and detention which in turn has all the hallmarks of criminality. On the other hand, if the shoplifter responds to the security guard's "excuse me sir, did you remember to pay for that?" with a "no mate, you're right" and returns to the till to pay for the goods, what is the point of a (now more or less proven) civil case?
As the Police and do not investigate small thiefts from stores any longer I can understand why the shops are having to take matters in their own hands.
it’s about time too…my local ‘small’ coop has installed the kind of screening around the till area that one would normally expect of a bank 🏦
When a shop asks you (or doesn’t) if you want a receipt TAKE IT. That is your contract of purchase with that shop! Without it they could shout theft against you.
My friend got caught stealing from Woolworths back around 1980. They wouldn’t let him go until his parents came to the shop and paid for the goods. Can’t imagine his dad was very happy- worked as a school inspector and advisor. Upshot - friend never stole again, became a fairly senior police officer in charge of armed response for one of the U.K’s largest forces.
Seen these signs for many years, sometimes called a civil recovery scheme. One outcome of this is that a judgement in the shops favour can have bailiffs sent round to seize goods at the address of the alleged shoplifter even belonging to others if they can’t prove ownership..
Standard signs, been there for years. Usually located in the high value areas such as makeup, razor blades, etc... they also tend to be on the petrol forecourt. You might not have seen them as the people that put out point of sale material tend to miss them off.
It would be interesting to see how this would work with 'errors' at a self-checkout.
That's an interesting question imho. Someone needs to tag the OP.
I've' seen those signs in various supermarkets for quite a while now.
Here in the USA many municipalities no longer prosecute theft. It’s common for stores and police to ignore thievery openly taking place for that reason. Even when massively repeat offenders are arrested, they will still be released with no consequences. Some stores are leaving such areas, and the municipalities are now trying to make them stay open, regardless of how much they are losing losing. I’m Wondering whether something like civil recovery is available here in the USA?
Not just Tesco. Bp did this when i worked there a decade ago, Boots have this too, its common in most big stores, pretty sure.
Victim surcharge scheme is just a top up on a fine. There are victimless crimes where the guilty party has had to pay the victim surcharge
What is an example of a victimless crime
@aiistyt drink driving / driving with no mot / insurance/ etc, where there has been no accidents. Yes there's a possibility of an accident, but where there isn't , is the victim surcharge fair ?
Stealth tax
@@johnburns5783 TV licence also. Stealth tax.
@@johnburns5783 Yes it’s fair, just see it as an incentive to do what normal people do anyway. By the way driving without insurance is certainly not victimless because the rest of us pay more to cover the costs
Im sure i remember seeing things like this in Tesco stores about 30 years ago. Good idea, might put off a few if they follow through and ACTUALLY sue a few.
i worked for Tesco for 8 years (left in October 2023) and those signs were displayed in stores before I started to work for them. I never heard of them actually following through and taking civil action against anyone who committed shoplifting.
There are far too many’s jury trials! If the sentence which can be imposed, is less than four years imprisonment, then it should be judge alone! Been through too many jury trials where the jurors are pretty pissed for even being there! Judge alone would be fairer on everybody!
It would seem alot of major retailers hopped on to the civil recovery bandwagon around 2010 judging by initial news results. Tesco has a complaint from a random user around that time on MSE for seemingly not resolving what seems to have been a mistake at the till, refusing police involvement upon request of the customer, and instead pushing the customer to sign documents, which no doubt would eventually end in a larger fine
About time that stores sue the scumbags stealing from them.
Being employed by a supermarket the theft is through the roof, what puzzles me is, if the item is recovered it's not a left the store. If it's gone you cant sue. Unless there is a data base of known shoplifters..meaning facial recognition.
I guess it might be used in the case of repeat offenders. The shop might have a bunch of CCTV footage of them stealing but never catch them in the act. If the shop actually do catch them one time, and the police get involved so the shop find out their name, the shop can then sue for all the other thefts.
The coop was scrutinised as being one of the first for adopting facial recognition a few yrs ago. The media interpreted it as recording without consent given facial recognition is likely only used if the company is creating a database with trust scores of it's customers. I'd assume it's more widespread now
@@MrVidification I think a lot of people may turn into tin foil hat wearers if they found out how much data was really out there.
When a company says it's testing data acquisition and data sharing you know they have already tested it and have tons of data already. Facebook tracking shoppers to offer adverts when they are near a certain shop for example, already in place and tracking people long before it was announced.
We i was a serving police officer and attending the stores. 100% of the cases the goods alleged to have been stolen were present and intact at the time of my attendance. None perishable goods were retained for production at court as best evidence. However perishable goods were photographed and returned to the shop for their disposal at the owners discretion. The none perishable being returned following a conviction plus the period of time to lodge an appeal to conviction. The stores therefore made no loss. Unless the perishable were defrosted frozen foods or goods other wise spoilt. I never experienced that latter situations.
They also charge for a portion of staff loss...ie management and security costs.....also damaged related to detagging items....I believe the standard charge is around £150
Was the victim of an attempted mugging+stabbing, in the end the police took my overjacket and proceeded to destroy it without returning it (was in perfect condition) never even got compensated for them causing more problems and loss than the perpetrators
Here in NSW , Australia, a few years ago a Labor government decided to just fine people for shoplifting instead of making it a criminal offence. The cops were happy.
I think that’s changed, but will have to check
This must be Tesco's version of the "Shoplifters will be prosecuted" sign.
A few weeks ago I entered my Sainsbury's local to see the usual security guard preventing a young man leaving by standing in his way by the exit, the man became very aggravated, shouting and tried to push past, loads of stolen items fell from inside his jacket onto the floor. He then demanded to be let go since he'd returned the items and violently tried to leave, but security demanded he look in his rucksack, there was a physical fight to restrain him in the end, but his rucksack was packed with stolen goods which went everywhere in the scuffle. After all that this shoplifter was still let go shouting abuse, no police called, no arrest, nothing. Shoplifters seem to think they have a right and get away with it.
Yea and i bet the security guy got a warning or will lose his security license for that as they are not allowed to fight them only block them from leaving and if it get aggressive they have to step a side as they will lose there job if they hurt them so stupid.
@@giggity4670 He was quite shaken up afterwards actually, I spoke to him to tell him well done and offered to be a witness if he needed it to support him, he has still been there since.
Our local Tesco in Scotland has had this sign for years now.
Well done Tesco. You have explained this well and a point so often overlooked that just because a judge in a criminal case awards a compensation sum to the injured party this does not stop a civil action. Would it be useful to explain to viewers what “double barrelled action” is where a successful criminal prosecution defaults to success of civil action and why sometimes a civil action is started and then “suspended pending criminal prosecution” and why on some legislation they are “statute barred” and why. I assume i practice that Tesco will, on catching a shop-lifter they immediately commence and then suspend a civil action. A great site and both informative and reassuring.
It depends if the lazy security do their job and whether the police can bother to turn up, let alone charge the thief!
I am guessing the same lawyers that support the private parking charges are the ones offering to run these cases too.
As a Tesco employee I can say that signs like this have existed for at least the 7 years I've worked there, they also exist in the back areas directed at staff to the effect of "Grazing is gross misconduct and Tesco may involve civil recovery" (or something like that)
Worked for Wilko's and 20+ years ago we implemented civil recovery and police action as appropriate. The civil recovery was dealt with by a third party and the costs were proportionate to pay for CCTV, Guards, staff time and had nothing to do with the cost of the items stolen / recovered. Fairly sure the minimum was £80 in the early 2000's. I think the cost increased as each letter was usually ignored.
Before I left the UK 10 years ago, I was a corporate lawyer. Tesco definitely advertised civil recovery then. But I doubt they used it very often, except perhaps by outsourcing to debt recovery firms. But even then, I doubt it was a regular occurence. Tesco doesn’t sell items worth thousands of pounds, so they would be unlikely to ever recover the cost of the item. Civil recovery costs money, even through small claims. You still have to provide evidence. You have to identify the offender - and be 100% certain you have the right person if you haven’t detained them in the store. Detaining them is fraught with danger and carries significant workplace health & safety issues, where the company has an onus to protect staff. Training staff to properly effect a citizen’s arrest is time-consuming and costly. And shoplifters in supermarkets tend to be mostly impecunious. The signs are intended as a deterrent. I expect they would only pursue high-profile cases which could act as a further deterrent. It all comes down to cost-benefit. And on a side note, I thought Counsel only ever shopped in Waitrose!
God imagine having to provide evidence! How dare they
Thanks for clarifying victim surcharge. That sounds like a good cause to put one's money.
I recently (the last 12 months) alerted a local store to shoplifting and as I left the store I caught them on dashcam sharing their spoils. I left my details with the manager and later in the week got a call from an area manager. He was charming, thanked me for my diligence and civil duty, and then - very politely- told me not to alert the staff to shoplifting again!! Absolutely true!
It was probably because the staff members did not follow procedure.....they are not supposed to take action on hearsay
how do they claim off the person, what if he/she doesnt give any ID, the police probably wont attend, you cant force them to do anything, you cant use physical force to keep them there, so how does this work??
CCTV, they correlate the person against a ClubCard used at the tills or when getting a hand scanner, assuming they use the tills to pay for a "token" purchase, which a lot do, especially with the hand scanners.
you can use reasonable force to detain and hold someone
@@jasonakamrdaddy5433 in the Uk i have worked in the suoermarkets and we were all told not to contront anyone if any danger is possible, i watched the security ask someone to check their bag but the man said no and walked off, the securty asked hi several time and the same answer un til he was over the car park.
The sign does not say Tesco will use civil procedures to recover their losses, it says they can use the courts. Big difference, I would expect a barrister to take more care over what is actually written and to understand the difference. More important would be to know how often do they actually recover losses in court, or at all?
Civil lawsuits also use the courts, not just criminal prosecutions.
@me-myself-i787 Only if they choose to take action. My question is, do they? My point is over the difference between the words "will" and "can", not civil action and court.
Ex-Tesco colleague here; similar signage has been in place for at least 10 years.
I always found it to be an afront to the trust that the average customer should be afforded.
I saw this sign for the first time last week.
The issue here is a lot of supermarkets end up having a loss they tell their staff not to confront any shoplifters and the security staff often don't give chase for fear of being sued by the thief if he/she falls over in the pursuit and cut themselves say on a glass bottle they had just stolen apparently a security guard was held liable. When I worked at Sainburys we had 1000s of bottles of alcohol go missing so we had started to just put two bottles tagged out on the self pushed to the back the tags don't do much either they just run as soon as they get to the door thief are getting braver too they know no one will give chase. The other day a thief just walked into my local Tescos with a bag, grabbed a load of food and didn't even care they know they will will get away with it.
I had a worker follow me out of a shop and say, in an accustory tone, in front of a queue of people "you put something in your bag!"
I hadn't
They said "*I'm going to look in your bag*!"
I insisted they went back on the store with me and made them ask politely to look in my, completely empty, bag.
They had actually seen me taking something out of my bag but I didn't explain at all. They said "ok you can go" without a word of apology.
I stood my ground and insisted they apologised loudly to me in front of customers
Wh
Been used for years, I worked for Tesco used it loads.
With the amount of CCTV now inside & crucially, outside the premises, it will NOT be hard to prove an individual has (a) pocketed an item(s) & then (2) left the premises without paying for it......
Those signs have been in most supermarkets for at least two decades.
Tesco sales went up 4% last year. Their profits tripled, while they tell us they're doing everything they can to keep prices low. During a 'cost of living crisis'. Pure profiteering, they deserve everything they get.
So tesco will go to the expense for recovering a few quid when they throw out a fair bit of food?
That notice has been on door to the bogs, (toilets) at my nearest Tesco for years.
It's been a policy at testing. They sue for the cost of the goods and the cost of cctv and security and losses.
The question I have is how is the supermarket going to recover the costs of litigation if the value of the goods is small? It may cost more than what they can be awarded by the court especially if the person shoplifting is destitute.
i suspected that it was about supermarkets trying to claim a few hundered quid from shop listers to contribute towards the shops continual losses due to shop lifting or the cost of employing an anti shop lifting security team.
accept for rare occasions shops only take a loss from the shop lifters that are not caught.
if someone is caught shop lifting i expect in the vast majority they (or the police) would force the shop lifter to either pay for the item('s) or if still packaged any un-harmed the items would be returned to the shelves.
in both of cases the shop would have zero losses to claim for when a shoplifter is caught, but might still want to prosecute for criminal charges rather than for any compensation
Yes ive heard of it. Its because of the police being not advised to investigate when its less than £200. My Friends is a security guard and they have a special form to complete.