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I'm in need of some help as to what kind of solicitor I should be consulting. I also hope I can explain the situation without too much rambling.
Just before Christmas last year, my wife who was 77 years old at the time, was stopped by a in store security officer as she walked towards the main doors of a national supermarket. She was ordered to go to go to a holding room without being given any explanation of why he had stopped her.
She tried to explain that if it was about a lipstick tester that he was stopping her for, she was only going to the doors to look at the shade in daylight and would return as soon as she had determined if it was the right colouring for her. He still insisted that she did what she was told and started pointing and jabbing the air in the direction he wanted her to go.
She did as she was told, because she thought she had nothing to worry about, but something about his insistent manner made her wary of him and without him seeing her, she threw the tester away, before entering what turned out to be a pokey little room that looked like a cell.
Once inside the room, she protested about her treatment and went to leave; at this point, he jumped in front of her and blocked the exit. Eventually another security person, presumably the CCTV operator entered with a female floor manager and started to question her.
With another woman present, she felt comfortable enough to tell them that she had only meant to check out the shade of colour in daylight, but had thrown it away because she had felt threatened by the first security person's attitude in not allowing her to explain. Somebody eventfully found the lipstick tester and handed it to the second security person, who seemed to be in charge, not the floor manager, as I would have imagined.
But, they then badgered her for a full ten minutes; insisting that she sign a banning order, before they would let her leave the secured room. Eventually, in order to get out of that room, she relented and signed their banning order. In their report, they wrote :- Theft of lipstick to the value of £4-98 concealed in pocket.
During the time my wife was being questioned she was suffering from palpitations and became very distressed, although those present deny this. When they eventually released her, she told them that she needed time to compose herself, and they just pointed the way to the ladies toilets, if she felt in the need of any privacy.
The outcome of this was that my wife, after a few weeks of feeling unwell was diagnosed with heart failure. The diagnosis was later changed to 'Stress Cardiomyopathy' that is quite often fatal at the time it occurs.
We believe we have followed to the full the 'Civil Procedures Rules 1998 pre-action protocols and overriding objective', but to no avail. After months of wrangling, they have sent us footage that is not my wife's complete visit to the store and is so obscured by over zealous blurring and confused by them altering the sequence of the visit that it almost makes it almost worthless.
We would be very grateful for any help about what kind of speciality solicitor to choose.
I'm in need of some help as to what kind of solicitor I should be consulting. I also hope I can explain the situation without too much rambling.
Just before Christmas last year, my wife who was 77 years old at the time, was stopped by a in store security officer as she walked towards the main doors of a national supermarket. She was ordered to go to go to a holding room without being given any explanation of why he had stopped her.
She tried to explain that if it was about a lipstick tester that he was stopping her for, she was only going to the doors to look at the shade in daylight and would return as soon as she had determined if it was the right colouring for her. He still insisted that she did what she was told and started pointing and jabbing the air in the direction he wanted her to go.
She did as she was told, because she thought she had nothing to worry about, but something about his insistent manner made her wary of him and without him seeing her, she threw the tester away, before entering what turned out to be a pokey little room that looked like a cell.
Once inside the room, she protested about her treatment and went to leave; at this point, he jumped in front of her and blocked the exit. Eventually another security person, presumably the CCTV operator entered with a female floor manager and started to question her.
With another woman present, she felt comfortable enough to tell them that she had only meant to check out the shade of colour in daylight, but had thrown it away because she had felt threatened by the first security person's attitude in not allowing her to explain. Somebody eventfully found the lipstick tester and handed it to the second security person, who seemed to be in charge, not the floor manager, as I would have imagined.
But, they then badgered her for a full ten minutes; insisting that she sign a banning order, before they would let her leave the secured room. Eventually, in order to get out of that room, she relented and signed their banning order. In their report, they wrote :- Theft of lipstick to the value of £4-98 concealed in pocket.
During the time my wife was being questioned she was suffering from palpitations and became very distressed, although those present deny this. When they eventually released her, she told them that she needed time to compose herself, and they just pointed the way to the ladies toilets, if she felt in the need of any privacy.
The outcome of this was that my wife, after a few weeks of feeling unwell was diagnosed with heart failure. The diagnosis was later changed to 'Stress Cardiomyopathy' that is quite often fatal at the time it occurs.
We believe we have followed to the full the 'Civil Procedures Rules 1998 pre-action protocols and overriding objective', but to no avail. After months of wrangling, they have sent us footage that is not my wife's complete visit to the store and is so obscured by over zealous blurring and confused by them altering the sequence of the visit that it almost makes it almost worthless.
We would be very grateful for any help about what kind of speciality solicitor to choose.
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