Following a recent spate of shoplifting, Rochdale’s Littleborough branch of Tesco Express came under fire today for apparently launching a dramatic new zero-tolerance ‘stop and search’ policy.
It is understood that the introduction of the new self-scanning systems, whereby customers are effectively doing the work of paid staff at local branches, has proved a lucrative investment for the supermarket giant, by not paying customers minimum wage, holiday pay or maternity leave for doing the job they are paying the stores to do for them.
However, the new system has not been without its drawbacks; a dramatic rise in in-store theft has been reported as customers seem, in the face of a system based on trust unable to resist the temptation of applying the old ‘five finger discount’ to their weekly shop.
“Some of these louts have sticky fingers if you know what I mean” said Reg Presley, a retired former Security Solutions Operative (SSO) at the recently closed Rochdale branch of Waitrose. “They’re resourceful too… as well as filling their baskets up with items they haven’t bothered scanning, they’re coming up with the most inventive hiding places about their physical person. I think you get the gyst”.
Hence Littleborough Tesco’s alleged dramatic new stop and Search policy; under the new scheme, customers may be selected at random and forced to undergo a humiliating and invasive strip search, on the shop floor in full view of other customers.
One such customer and surprised recipient of the new scheme, Mr Albert Kwouk, 76, told us;
“It was quite a shock, I can tell you. I only popped in to buy an iceberg lettuce. I like them, they don’t play up with my dentures, and it’s nice to have something a bit crunchy with a salad. I was just bending over to take one out of the chiller, and this man came up behind me and without so much as a by-your leave, he took my trousers down. The next thing I know he was rummaging around ‘back there’. I couldn’t see what was going on, but he assured me that he was a security guard and that it was just store policy. The whole thing lasted about three minutes. He wouldn’t have found anything anyway, and I can understand why they have to check, but after he’d done he just vanished before he’d even bothered to offer an apology. I’m not happy.”
We spoke to a Tesco official who wished to remain anonymous, surprisingly, and were informed in no uncertain terms that no such policy exists, and that there were in fact no security staff on duty on the afternoon in question due to illness. As a result, Mr Kwouk is yet to receive an official apology from the security guard in question, although the store manager has offered him a free iceberg lettuce on his next visit.
