Tesco shoplifting

[Machine81]

Hi,

on on Sunday I was stopped as I was leaving my local Tesco and frogmarched into a room at the back.
In short, a loss Provention Officer has seen me put a number of items in a bag (self scan) and not declare them at the checkout. I explained - honestly - that I’d tried to scan them (20 of the same item reduced to 40p) but the scanner had said they couldn’t be scanned so put them aside and I’d forgotten all about them. He insisted he hadn’t seen this and when I asked him to check the cctv he said he didn’t think it would catch it.
They went through my trolley and to my horror also found a bunch of bananas I’d genuinely forgotten to get back out at checkout, as well as two packs of smoked salmon stuck together where I’d innocently only scanned 1. In total about £12-13.
In the end he said he wouldn’t call the police but I was banned from all tesco stores for a year and after taking away my driving licence said I would get a letter from Tesco.
They asked me if I still wanted the offending goods and whilst I did, I said no as I just wanted to get out of there.

my worry is that they could still get the police involved and they’ll turn up at my house - is this realistic?
They put my details in something called the “Stock & arrest book” though I may have got the name slightly wrong.
im terrified of the police showing up

Thanks in advance

[des8]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Hi and welcome.
Rest assured they will not advise the police now.

"stock and arrest book".. that's a new one and must refer to an internal record system that will not be released to any third parties.

Have they retained your driving licence?

The letter you will receive will probably be from a firm of solicitors called DWF.
It will be one of a series inviting you to pay them a sum of money for all sorts of imagined costs, and threatening civil court action for recovery of this alleged debt.
What you should do is to ignore it.
They huff and puff but do nothing as their claim would fail in court if robustly defended.

Check out threads on here dealing with "retail Loss Prevention" (a similar firm)
Here's a thread showing the sort of letters you will receive: http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...=scary+letters

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

They gave me my licence back.
are there any circumstances given my described situation where the police may be involved further?
thanks for your help

[des8]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

nope! (assuming you are in England or Wales)

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

England

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Can I ask how you can be so sure the police won’t still be involved? (As you can tell, I’m terrified!)

[Amethyst]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

It would be slightly bonkers to send the police round to you after recovery of the goods that were only worth £12-£13 in the first place. Have a read through all the other threads on shoplifting in Tesco and other places - http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...oss-Prevention - I haven't seen a single one where the police have gone to someones house, if the Police were going to be involved they'd have been involved while you were at Tesco.

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

I’ve still not had anything through the post regarding RLP or the banning notice despite it all happening 5 weeks ago.
Is there any chance they could have passed the info to the police and I can expect something through the post from them (police)?

[ostell]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Unless the police were called at the time then I doubt very much if the police are even interested.

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

But shouldn’t I have received something from RLP by now?

[ostell]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Why complain, unless you want some decoration for the smallest room in the house. You would be ignoring RLP letters anyway.

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

My worry is that I read recently about issues under £200 being dealt with by post, giving people the option to plead guilty by post, like a speeding offence. Should I receive such a letter and plead guilty, would i have a criminal record? (I wouldn’t with a speeding offence)

thanks!

[Amethyst]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Yes, if you did get a letter from the Police ( extremely unlikely ) and it invited you to plead by post and you pleaded guilty then yes you would have a criminal record. The maximum sentence is 6 months. Mostly a fine though.

RLP can take a good few weeks to get around to writing to you, if they ever do, Tesco might not have passed it over to them. Really I'd stop worrying and deal with anything IF it happens.

Presumably as this has affected you so badly you won't be doing it again

For reference:

Theft - Low value shoplifting
Section 172 of the*Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came into effect on 13 May 2014.
Section 176 of the above Act introduces changes to low level shoplifting. The changes are:
Subsection (3) of the Act inserts new section 22A into the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, which provides that low-value shoplifting is a summary offence (new section 22A(1)). This is subject to one exemption; an adult defendant is to be given the opportunity to elect Crown Court trial; and if the defendant so elects; the offence is no longer summary and will be sent to the Crown Court (new section 22A(2)). Otherwise, the effect of new section 22A is that offences of low-value shoplifting cannot be sent to the Crown Court for trial or commited there for sentence; they will attract a maximum penalty of six months' custody; and they will be brought within the procedure in section 12 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 that enables defendants in summary cases to be given the opportunity to plead guilty by post.
Shoplifting is not a specific offence as such but constitutes theft under section 1 of the Theft Act 1968; accordingly new section 22A(3) defines shoplifting for the purposes of this provision, which applies if the value of the stolen goods is £200 or less.
Section22A(4) provides that for these purposes the value of the goods is to be determined by the price at which they were offered for sale rather than the intrinsic value, and also for the value involved in several shoplifting offences to be aggregated where they are charged at the same time. So, for example, where a person is charged with three counts of shoplifting, having allegedly taken £80 worth of goods from three separate shops, the new procedure would not apply in that case as the aggregate sum exceeds the £200 threshold.
Section 22A(5) provides*that for offences of low-value shoplifting tried summarily (as they must be unless the defendant elects), the maximum penalty is six months' imprisonment or a fine.
Section 22A(6) prevents appeals from being brought on the basis of disputed decisions as to whether the offence was low-value shoplifting.
Section 22A(7) provides that an offence of shoplifting includes secondary offences such as aiding and abetting.
Subsection (4) amends section 143 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 to enable the £200 threshold to be uprated in line with inflation. An order made under section 143 is subject to the negative resolution procedure.
Subsection (5) amends section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 to provide that it is an offence to attempt to commit low-value shoplifting. That section otherwise only applies to attempts to commit offences which are indictable offences.
Subsection (6) provides that certain powers conferred by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ("PACE") on the police and others in respect of indictable offences remain available in respect of low-value shoplifting, notwithstanding that it is reclassified as summary-only. The powers concerned include a power of arrest exercisable by a person other than a constable (for example, a store detective), powers enabling police officers to enter and search premises and vehicles in various circumstances for the purposes of searching for evidence in connection with an investigation or arresting individuals suspected of committing offences, and powers enabling a magistrate to authoirse such entry and search.
Subsection (7) is a further consequential which makes a parallel amendment to the provisions which correspond to PACE for Service law.
Subsection (8) provides that the amendments do not apply to cases in which proceedings have been instituted before the date of commencements.

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Its affected me enormously, I’m struggling to sleep. Given that Tesco said at the time they weren’t calling the police I’m hopkng they won’t still go ahead and forward my details to them

[Machine81]

Re: Tesco shoplifting

Also, if incidents under £200 are effectively now decriminalised, what does that mean if a criminal record is still handed out?