A mum shopping with her young daughter says she was made to feel \u201clike a criminal\u201d after being \u201cdetained\u201d by an Asda security guard.<\/p>\n
Sophie Powell visited the supermarket in Bouverie Place, Folkestone, on Wednesday morning with seven-year-old Alanah.<\/p>\n
Sophie Powell and her seven-year-old daughter, Alanah, were stopped at Asda in Folkestone. Picture: Barry Goodwin<\/p>\n
She bought milk and a jar of pasta sauce and paid at the self-scan till, but clicked no when the machine asked if she wanted a receipt.<\/p>\n
Alanah was hungry, so they went to the supermarket cafe before re-entering the main store to meet up with her partner, who was also shopping.<\/p>\n
But, as she went to leave with her bag of purchases in tow, she and Alanah were stopped by a security guard.<\/p>\n
Miss Powell recalled: \u201cShe said, \u2018Have you got a receipt?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI said no, and showed her the items. She said, \u2018You’re not leaving until you show me your receipt\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit shocked. You start to panic a little bit.<\/p>\n
Sophie Powell has vowed not to shop at Asda again. Picture: Barry Goodwin<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was very rude and confrontational with me and still demanding a receipt, so I went to leave the store because I’ve paid for these items, I’ve got nothing to hide.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe physically stood in front of me and my daughter and barred us from going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, a manager came over, apologised to the pair, and let them go.<\/p>\n
Bosses at the supermarket chain have now also said sorry to Miss Powell, adding they only ask for proof of purchase \u201cwith the best intentions\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Miss Powell says she was left embarrassed by the ordeal, which reduced Alanah to tears.<\/p>\n
Sophie Powell says the ordeal left her seven-year-old daughter, Alanah, in tears. Picture: Barry Goodwin<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me feel very singled out, like a criminal with my seven-year-old \u2013 she was in absolute tears,\u201d she told KentOnline.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was confused, because we were not allowed to leave and were kind of detained at the security thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just totally taken aback by the whole ordeal of it. In no way have I suggested that I was taking anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo physically stop me from leaving the store was the bit that I was not comfortable with. That’s what made me feel like I’m a criminal.<\/p>\n
Seven-year-old Alanah was left in tears after the ordeal. Picture: Barry Goodwin<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just utterly shocked and embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the line manager apologised at the time, telling her the guard was likely \u201chaving a bad day\u201d, the mum has vowed not to shop at Asda again.<\/p>\n
She also wants a formal apology and an explanation from the company.<\/p>\n
The care worker added: \u201cI understand shoplifting is really bad, but you have to have a reason to stop, or a suspicion to stop, somebody.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the self-check-out, you have a camera pointing at you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had gone through that process, to then be stopped and absolutely humiliated when there was clearly no evidence for her to stop me at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Asda spokesperson said: \u201cWe want every customer to have a positive experience when shopping with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we may occasionally ask for proof of purchase, this is always done with the best intentions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sorry to hear about Sophie\u2019s experience and have asked for her contact details so we can speak with her directly and better understand her concerns.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mum shopping with her young daughter says she was made to feel \u201clike a criminal\u201d after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,2082,2418,495,83509,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-721485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-consumer","10":"tag-folkestone","11":"tag-kent","12":"tag-syndicate","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115960456420194494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}