Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

[Eloise01]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I have to agree with what you say, Eloise. On a positive note, going to the media and presenting the OP and retailer as being victims of fraudsters can have a beneficial effect as it alerts other consumers and retailers that counterfeit vouchers, etc., are in circulation. As Forceofone has said, when a retailer gets it badly wrong, it can prove to be a very expensive lesson for the retailer. A certain major supermarket operator, some years ago, wrongly accused two shoppers of shoplifting. The case went as far as the Court of Appeal due, largely, to the intransigence and arrogance of the supermarket operator in not acknowledging their blunder and trying to put matters right. It resulted in the supermarket operator facing a total bill of £450k-£500k, £140k of which was damages to the two shoppers for Wrongful Arrest, Unlawful Detention, Malicious Prosecution and Damage to Character and Reputation. The remainder was the costs of the hearings at the Magistrates Court, Crown Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, which the Court of Appeal ordered the retailer to pay.

I agree. Which is why the store acted absolutely correctly in turning the matter and the evidence they had over to the police. The store are not making any allegations at all. They are stating the facts as they know them as witnesses. As I said, being mistaken is not an offence. If it were, then none of us would ever report crimes or act as witnesses.

[Eloise01]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

Have you come across some of the numpties they are issuing with warrant cards these days?

Oh yes! Which is why I would have expected them to review the CCTV first, since the OP clearly wasn't about to skip the country. If it showed what the OP says it does, then it would have saved a lot of trouble, and them a lot of paperwork.

In terms of what you said about wrongful arrest, I agree in principle, but the fact is that most forces now have commercial settlement policies without admission as to liability. It's cheaper than legal costs. Of course, they could fight every case, and would probably win most of them. But it would cost a lot more. The danger in drawing legal conclusions from individual cases is that people assume they will win the big payouts, and that is invariably not true. The big payments are rare, and that is why they get attention. I see the same thing all the time in Employment Tribunals. People expect that they'll win a million, because someone else did. The average award is actually around £5-7k and the MAJORITY of people who win get a lot less than that.

[gravytrain]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I agree. Which is why the store acted absolutely correctly in turning the matter and the evidence they had over to the police. The store are not making any allegations at all. They are stating the facts as they know them as witnesses. As I said, being mistaken is not an offence. If it were, then none of us would ever report crimes or act as witnesses.

They would have a duty of care though to ensure the facts presented were accurate, as a commercial enterprise I think that a case could be made that procedures should be in place to ensure evidence was correctly gathered and relayed.

[wales01man]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

The OP is innocent until proven guilty so is the retailer gut some on here are making it out the retailer and the police are guilty??/

[enquirer]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

The CCTV will be able to identify what the vouchers were that you passed to the cashier

If there was CCTV at all, the chances are very high that it would be of such bad quality as to be unable to identify the vouchers properly.

[enquirer]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I had bought a few vouchers on eBay and when I was interviewed my first reply was that the vouchers your showing me are NOT the ones I had bought.

The police showed you vouchers. They were different from the ones that you bought.

Key question: Did they get you to handle those vouchers? (This is a trick often employed by the police - it gets the suspects fingerprints on the item). If there was CCTV, it might be good enough to show that you handed over your vouchers with bare hands.

But then he read the statement from the store manager and basically said the vouchers I had used was the only ones that someone had used in the same week as me.

Force them to produce their records.

To my surprise when I checked eBay, the vouchers they said I used was not true as I used a different brand of vouchers then the ones I was shown BUT to the same value.

Your purchase history and eBay description should still be extant. Access these from another computer at a different location. Save a screenshot and print it all out. Be aware that the police may add or delete material from the computer that they have seized.

I also remembered that the vouchers I had used 2 of the staff had talked about how to stick a massive cross over the vouchers I had used and the Counterfit vouchers was unmarked. I hope that they remember this as I spoke to the copper and told him and that may help me.

If the store manager realises that it's all going wrong, the staff in question will probably be threatened.

[gravytrain]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

Good points all.

Civil reparations should not be ruled out IMO. Contrary to earlier opinion if a person causes damage to another, they leave themselves open to civil redress, no mater if it is by running into them with your car or making false statements to the police.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I believe you may have been suffering from insufficient caffeine when you wrote:

The shop is not the "guilty party" either - they are the victims! This sort of episode is highly unpleasant for the OP, but the shop have done nothing at all wrong.

You seem to have overlooked:

I also remembered that the vouchers I had used 2 of the staff had talked about how to stick a massive cross over the vouchers I had used and the Counterfit vouchers was unmarked. I hope that they remember this as I spoke to the copper and told him and that may help me. It seems that someone else has used £x amount of vouchers and they remembered me using £x amount and then say I was the only person that had used £x amount of vouchers.

Whilst that certainly does not prove malice, it does suggest negligence.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I had bought a few vouchers on eBay and when I was interviewed my first reply was that the vouchers your showing me are NOT the ones I had bought.

Did you touch those vouchers at any time or were they sealed in a transparent, evidence bag?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

if they are innocent they have nothing to fear

:rofl:

[CleverClogs]

Re: Arrested for Using Counterfit Vouchers

I can't see any insults petty or otherwise (unless I'm completely missing something).

Didn't Eloise accuse FORCEOFONE of the heinous crime of being from the rebel colonies?