News articles

[Nomad]

Old news !

payments made on both debit and credit cards during October, November and December 2020

Not that old, and has the very real potential of causing some people financial problems.

Although it's not unexpected for the usual people to try and defend another F-up connected to this company.

[Mark calloway]

Best news story I've heard is about the manager who's won 40k after being sacked for tackling a violent shoplifter.  Our night manager was sacked for the same thing a few years ago.

[Doris Stokes]

Fascinating insight into Tesco Management

the credibility of store director Andy Cruttenden's evidence

No security guard was provided for the store at the time of the shoplifting incident.
I was surprised by something that Mr Cruttenden said about this in evidence: he
said that a desire to minimise costs played no role in determining whether guards
were hired to provide security at a particular store. The Claimant disputed this. In
the Tribunal’s experience, when determining whether to hire additional security
staff, it is entirely natural for an employer to factor in cost, amongst all the other
factors that they will consider. I find that as a responsible company, aware of the
need to control costs, the Respondent does factor in cost in such a way. I
therefore reject Mr Cruttenden’s evidence that the Respondent does not factor in
cost, and accept the Claimant’s evidence that the Respondent does factor in cost.
In light of this, I have viewed Mr Cruttenden’s evidence with a considerable
degree of circumspection. I was given further cause to treat his evidence with
circumspection by his initially evasive answers in oral evidence to a question
about whether the Claimant was seen to kick or slap the shoplifter, it being
obvious from CCTV that the Claimant did not do such a thing

how many meetings, and why? 

An employee of the Respondent who was a witness to the incident, Mr Ahmed,
was interviewed by multiple investigators on 1 October 2019, 3 October 2019,
and 8 October 2019. As Mr Lingard recognised in his evidence, it is uncommon
for a witness in a disciplinary matter to be interviewed multiple times by multiple
investigators. I note that the transcript of the second of these meetings, said to
last 14 minutes, contains under a minute’s worth of transcribed text, and that the
transcript of the third of these meetings, said to last 25 minutes, contains about 2
minutes’ worth of transcribed text. I am concerned by what was clearly said for
the rest of the time and not recorded.

Mr Ahmed’s account of what occurred in the store office changed during the
course of the investigation. I find that during the course of the investigation,
managers pressed Mr Ahmed for an increasingly detailed account. However, I
have not heard from Mr Ahmed. I do not have sufficient material before me to
reach a finding that the evidence of Mr Ahmed is corrupted as a result of the
investigatory process. Mr Ahmed’s evidence during the Respondent’s
investigation confirmed that the shoplifter was threatening. The Respondent was
always aware that Mr Ahmed’s evidence supported the Claimant’s account in this
way

the poor guy they sacked 

By the time of his dismissal, the Claimant had provided to the Respondent nearly
20 years of blemish-free service. The Claimant had provided photographic
evidence that the shoplifter was using a key as a weapon to threaten him. These
were facts that would provide the starting point for any reasonable employer’s
analysis of the Claimant’s account of his interaction with the shoplifter

because

Mr Lingard accepted that the way that the CCTV was provided to the Respondent
was suspicious. He was correct in this regard. Any reasonable employer would
conclude, as indeed the Respondent did conclude, that the whistle-blower held a
vendetta against the Claimant, had made a false and malicious allegation of theft
against the Claimant as part of the same whistleblowing complaint, and was using
the CCTV footage to encourage the Respondent to take disciplinary action
against the Claimant.
48. The CCTV is completely decontextualised. It does not show what happened
immediately before the Claimant took a step towards the shoplifter. Any
reasonable employer would conclude that the editing of the footage by a person
who it had concluded clearly had a vendetta against the Claimant (and who had
made an unsubstantiated allegation of theft against him) was intentional, and that
relevant material may well exist immediately before the start of the edited footage



20 yr manager gets **** store, with no security and gets done like this. Wonder what the back story is 

[Doris Stokes]

Also worth pointing out that, on Aug 20th 2020, Mr Cruttenden retweeted Tony Hoggett's call, backing the petition for legislation protecting retail workers from abuse threats and violence.

 

[Nomad]

A link to one of the articles on the sacking that cost £43k, should probably cost somebody else their job instead.

tesco manager sacked for restraining shoplifter el-gorrou

[dotnochance]

Getting rid of security is favour of cctv is a joke our store has limited security (stand at front door) since this came in our store thefts have gone through the roof, company is a joke

[Omg1]

Appalling treatment. Cost is the only reason for not protecting colleagues. Lose stock and get reprimanded, stop thieves and get sacked. Sounds like a no win situation . I have seen so many long serving staff treated this way so cheaper managers can be put in place again cost .  All the people know what’s happening but lie when challenged . Good luck to the guy concerned but I’m sure the mental damage caused will never go away even though he won the case. Remember everyone is a number and very disposable when your face no longer fits or your expensive. I worked with a manager that a few years ago who was dismissed by allegations from three vindictive staff based on hearsay and no facts after almost 30 years service . His investigation was as poor as anything and managers above him lied to save there own skins as telling the truth would show they had not done there job.
Many more people should fight when they get treated badly by Tesco  but the company culture of arrogance and denial/lies is too established now.

[Redshoes]

Getting rid of security is favour of cctv is a joke our store has limited security (stand at front door) since this came in our store thefts have gone through the roof, company is a joke

Security has been prioritised in stores that have a greater threat to personal safety. People safety trumps theft.

[Nomad]

Are you implying this company does not have the £resources to do both ?

[dotnochance]

Your saying Tesco cares more about people’s safety and health over money? 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Do you work for the same company as us?

[londoner83]

The issue Is even if you had full security and were regularly detaining shoplifters and other offenders unless you have full police support you still won't prevent the issues we encounter on a daily basis.

 With cuts in police numbers and limited custody space there simply isn't the resources to deal with everyone committing a crime.

[Nomad]

Dark web criminals selling stolen Tesco customers' account details

A “treasure trove” of rifled personal data including user names, addresses and loyalty card balances was uncovered by the consumer campaign group. Cyber security experts say the information could be used to clone customer identities and gain illegal access to online shopping services. One seller on the dark web – hidden websites often used for illegal activities – claimed to have thousands of Tesco Clubcard account details for sale at 42p each.

[Redshoes]

Are you implying this company does not have the £resources to do both ?

Possible, we lost our security guard. We were told we are a low risk area. We do have the Hub installed though. There are more customer theft incidents being shared between stores and the hub does send down colleague investigations over till shorts or breaches to routines so I assume it is either more effective at looking after stock or it’s still in trial phase.
The guards are also more involved in “Greeters” at the door now too, mask compliance etc. We have gone through “Greeters”, no greeters then back to greeters during COVID. Having greeters on the door does help towards people complying. More people use the sanitiser when there is a greeter on the door, same with mask compliance, same with separate entrance and exit.
I don’t know the correct answer to this question but to my mind the Hub is now looking after stock and Guards are looking after colleagues.

[dotnochance]

Well if the hub is looking after stock, then it needs to be retrained! It’s s*** at it

[Mark calloway]

Well if the hub is looking after stock, then it needs to be retrained! It’s s*** at it

agreed. I think they're not watching our store

[Redshoes]

We have had several till investigations because of the hub. We have also have had several shop lifters charged. Colleague spots shop lifter, confirmed on cctv. Store contacts hub and hub gathers all the footage and sends to police. The police have said the quality of the cctv is fantastic. We have had a string of cases that have gone to court with colleagues getting citations to attend but person has always plead pleaded guilty last thing.

[Mark calloway]

That's good.

[lordadmiral]

https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/05/man-dies-after-tesco-staff-stop-people-taking-defibrillator-14027573/

[Mark calloway]

I was just going to mention that. Its absolutely disgraceful, that staff member should be sacked immediately. "Not for public use" what on earth. What a vile human being

[Mark calloway]

Getting rid of security is favour of cctv is a joke our store has limited security (stand at front door) since this came in our store thefts have gone through the roof, company is a joke

Security has been prioritised in stores that have a greater threat to personal safety. People safety trumps theft.

are you a troll?

[NightAndDay]

No, she's just very pro-Tesco.

[londoner83]

I doubt the security are employed by Tesco, probably just agency staff.

[Redshoes]

No, she's just very pro-Tesco.

I don’t understand why you say that. What’s wrong with prioritising safety over theft. You would think that if stock was valued over life and had a higher priority that there would be a huge campaign I against it.
By the way, I do at least work for the company. I have done so for nearly 30 years. I speak from experience. I only worked for a small store for about year and was a long time ago. I have worked the rest in large store format. I do at least work for the company and my experience is first hand.

[NightAndDay]

I've worked for the company for 7 years, I know enough, and absolutely, safety over stock, but if you think that Tescos criteria for whether a store has a security guard in place is based purely on safety of the colleagues, then you're misinformed, it's a factor, but not the main one, if a store loses more in shrink from shoplifting than it costs to have a security guard employed, then that is the main factor, the guards don't print off training receipts, fill in the investigation books and submit them online through the companies intranet for nothing you know.

[Redshoes]

Things change, stock loss was priority at one time but has not been so for a while. Security guards will still know how to do things they used to do so can carry on. They may train new too, no problem with that. It’s not an either or once working in stores. It’s the criteria for the guarding being in stores.