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Hi Guys
I am hoping someone could help me please. I stumbled across your forum after googling various topics relating to being falsely accused of shoplifting and letters from RLP.
I have had a good read of your posts/threads/advice and appreciate all the information I have gleemed from them greatly. In short, I understand that I need to ignore the letters from RLP but I'm so angry about the situation that I wanted to ask if anyone thought if i should/had advice on how I go about taking these accusations further.
The basics are:
Myself and two of my four children were shopping in tescos, I spent some time choosing some makeup items for my teenage daughter whos birthday was coming up. I placed the chosen items in one of the plastic bags provided and put it in the front compartment of the trolley. In the front area of the trolley is also where I place my handbag and shopping bags. However, I did not put the items there in an attempt to steal them I placed them in full view by the side of my bags with every intention of paying. I did the rest of my shopping, paid for all the items via a cashier at the tills but I did forget to put the make up on the conveyor belt. It was a genuine mistake the bag of makeup had become wedged between the front of the trolley and my handbag and i didn't see it. I also had my teen daughter ringing me constantly complaing about the usual teenage drama, my toddler had started to cry and my son was being a pain about being late for football practice. My mind was in 100 places at once and I had (hand on heart) totally forgotten about the make up. I do appreciate that this is probably an excuse that's used by lots of people who do intend to steal items. but I'm a 41 year old trainee nurse whos a mother of four kids with a husband who earns £50,000 plus so WHY would i feel the need to steal a few items of cheap makeup. Anyway, we were on our way out of the store, when the alarm on the first set of doors out to the foyay went off. I stopped and went to speak to the security man - all done by my own free will. He asked if I had anything to which i said no and started to go through my bag to get the receipt for my shopping. Whilst doing so I lifted out the shopping bags and handbag to show him there was nothing there and of course that's when the bloody make up became visable. I was genuinely surprised and embarrassed and said something like "oh shit I'm so sorry I totally forgot about that". He took the make up from me and asked for my driving licence. I started getting my licence out, I apologised again and said the items were a present for my daughter and could i go to customer service to pay for them. The security desk is directly in line with the customer service till. He said no youll have to go back and get them, whilst he was doing this he was getting his phone out of his pocket. I responded (still politely but abit confused) but customer service is right there I'm really sorry I totally forgot they were they - the kids were playing up and i need to get my son to football practice, can i not just pay for them? I don't really have time to go back in and re-choose them. To which i got no reponse. He then took a photo of my driving licence so i said why are you doing that, do i really have to go back in and get the items again? To which i was handed back my driving licence and told "go". So i said do you know what I haven't got time now I'll come back tomorrow. So with that I left and was pissed off that I couldn't just pay for the bits, confused about why he was taking a photo of my licence but overall i just forgot about the incident.Since then I have regualarly shopped in tescos with no problems and really thought nothing of it until i received the letter from RLP.
I was totally confused so called them - the guy on the phone was polite enough and i told him what had happened (just as i have told you) to which i was told:
Tescos decided it wasn't necessary to get the police involved at the time
Tescos don't have to legeally tell me they are accusing me of shoplifting
If it was a genuine mistake they would let me pay a portion of the £149.50 they are asking for
He also stated that I had passed the last point of payment (barely as the customer service desk and the security desk are directly opposite one another) and that i clearly wouldn't have gone back if i had found the items in the trolley when i got to the car
To say i flipped and lost my temper at that comment is an understatement, I am beyond furious.
The security guard barely said two words to me, gave me no documentation relating to the incident or a form to say he was passing over my details to RLP.
So basically I want to know what i can do - Ive been told by my brother in law (who works for tescos)
The guard should not have taken a picture of my driving licence - under the data protection act only the police can do that (apparently)
If tescos wanted to go down the route of civil recovery the police should have been called and I should have been detained and they should have explained what their intention were
I should have been banned from the tescos stores as i was being accused of shoplifting
Ive also noted (from your forum) that the retailer needs to prove their allegations beyond all reasonable doubt - which i don't feel they have done
if someone from the store responds to the alarm going off from the EAS (Electronic article surveillance) tower they are usually only allowed to ask "if you've forgotten to pay for something" as they have no evidence to say you definitely have
A store detective/guard needs to observe all of the factors of SCONE
s = selection of the item
c = concealment of an item
o = observation of shoplifter at all times since seeing the two above things
n = non payment of item
e = escape
Surely if he was simply responding to the EAS at the very least the top three points have not been satisfied.
It is totally unlawful for the police to provide personal details to a third party without the consent of the person whose details they are, especially if the third party is a corporation - surely if that's the case with the police a security guard cant pass my details on to RLP without being in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Can I ask what other people think please? It really was a genuine mistake and I'm absolutely furious that I'm being accused of shoplifting and being asked to pay for the goods (even though they remained in store) and compensation to tescos. If the security guard had bothered to utter more than a dozen words to me and tell me what was going on I would have demanded that the police be called as i did not steal anything.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you
I am hoping someone could help me please. I stumbled across your forum after googling various topics relating to being falsely accused of shoplifting and letters from RLP.
I have had a good read of your posts/threads/advice and appreciate all the information I have gleemed from them greatly. In short, I understand that I need to ignore the letters from RLP but I'm so angry about the situation that I wanted to ask if anyone thought if i should/had advice on how I go about taking these accusations further.
The basics are:
Myself and two of my four children were shopping in tescos, I spent some time choosing some makeup items for my teenage daughter whos birthday was coming up. I placed the chosen items in one of the plastic bags provided and put it in the front compartment of the trolley. In the front area of the trolley is also where I place my handbag and shopping bags. However, I did not put the items there in an attempt to steal them I placed them in full view by the side of my bags with every intention of paying. I did the rest of my shopping, paid for all the items via a cashier at the tills but I did forget to put the make up on the conveyor belt. It was a genuine mistake the bag of makeup had become wedged between the front of the trolley and my handbag and i didn't see it. I also had my teen daughter ringing me constantly complaing about the usual teenage drama, my toddler had started to cry and my son was being a pain about being late for football practice. My mind was in 100 places at once and I had (hand on heart) totally forgotten about the make up. I do appreciate that this is probably an excuse that's used by lots of people who do intend to steal items. but I'm a 41 year old trainee nurse whos a mother of four kids with a husband who earns £50,000 plus so WHY would i feel the need to steal a few items of cheap makeup. Anyway, we were on our way out of the store, when the alarm on the first set of doors out to the foyay went off. I stopped and went to speak to the security man - all done by my own free will. He asked if I had anything to which i said no and started to go through my bag to get the receipt for my shopping. Whilst doing so I lifted out the shopping bags and handbag to show him there was nothing there and of course that's when the bloody make up became visable. I was genuinely surprised and embarrassed and said something like "oh shit I'm so sorry I totally forgot about that". He took the make up from me and asked for my driving licence. I started getting my licence out, I apologised again and said the items were a present for my daughter and could i go to customer service to pay for them. The security desk is directly in line with the customer service till. He said no youll have to go back and get them, whilst he was doing this he was getting his phone out of his pocket. I responded (still politely but abit confused) but customer service is right there I'm really sorry I totally forgot they were they - the kids were playing up and i need to get my son to football practice, can i not just pay for them? I don't really have time to go back in and re-choose them. To which i got no reponse. He then took a photo of my driving licence so i said why are you doing that, do i really have to go back in and get the items again? To which i was handed back my driving licence and told "go". So i said do you know what I haven't got time now I'll come back tomorrow. So with that I left and was pissed off that I couldn't just pay for the bits, confused about why he was taking a photo of my licence but overall i just forgot about the incident.Since then I have regualarly shopped in tescos with no problems and really thought nothing of it until i received the letter from RLP.
I was totally confused so called them - the guy on the phone was polite enough and i told him what had happened (just as i have told you) to which i was told:
Tescos decided it wasn't necessary to get the police involved at the time
Tescos don't have to legeally tell me they are accusing me of shoplifting
If it was a genuine mistake they would let me pay a portion of the £149.50 they are asking for
He also stated that I had passed the last point of payment (barely as the customer service desk and the security desk are directly opposite one another) and that i clearly wouldn't have gone back if i had found the items in the trolley when i got to the car
To say i flipped and lost my temper at that comment is an understatement, I am beyond furious.
The security guard barely said two words to me, gave me no documentation relating to the incident or a form to say he was passing over my details to RLP.
So basically I want to know what i can do - Ive been told by my brother in law (who works for tescos)
The guard should not have taken a picture of my driving licence - under the data protection act only the police can do that (apparently)
If tescos wanted to go down the route of civil recovery the police should have been called and I should have been detained and they should have explained what their intention were
I should have been banned from the tescos stores as i was being accused of shoplifting
Ive also noted (from your forum) that the retailer needs to prove their allegations beyond all reasonable doubt - which i don't feel they have done
if someone from the store responds to the alarm going off from the EAS (Electronic article surveillance) tower they are usually only allowed to ask "if you've forgotten to pay for something" as they have no evidence to say you definitely have
A store detective/guard needs to observe all of the factors of SCONE
s = selection of the item
c = concealment of an item
o = observation of shoplifter at all times since seeing the two above things
n = non payment of item
e = escape
Surely if he was simply responding to the EAS at the very least the top three points have not been satisfied.
It is totally unlawful for the police to provide personal details to a third party without the consent of the person whose details they are, especially if the third party is a corporation - surely if that's the case with the police a security guard cant pass my details on to RLP without being in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Can I ask what other people think please? It really was a genuine mistake and I'm absolutely furious that I'm being accused of shoplifting and being asked to pay for the goods (even though they remained in store) and compensation to tescos. If the security guard had bothered to utter more than a dozen words to me and tell me what was going on I would have demanded that the police be called as i did not steal anything.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
thank you
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