Thanks all. This has all been very helpful and reassuring. I will try to remember to update if hubby ever hears any more from the store. He wrote his account down this morning, I think to get it all off his chest. The longer we both think about it the more ridiculous it all seems. Once we've both calmed down about it I think we will write to Head Office at The Range and lodge a complaint. Hubby's pointed out that mistakes must happen from time to time and it is ridiculous to think they pursue them all this far. What about an elderly person who is a bit absent minded or a harassed mum whose Toddler has had a melt down and whose other little one has managed to pull something into to their pushchair while it was happening? When mum finds it while putting terror number 2 into their car seat are they going to put her through the same ordeal when she goes back to the shop to return it? It certainly doesn't encourage you to be honest.

He doesn't actually remember what words the manager said to him Re being detained. He has just said that actually the exit alarm didn't go off when he tried to leave he discovered the item in his pocket before he got to the exit after setting the alarm off on the entrance and thinking it had gone off because he was leaving through the wrong door. So he just went straight to the till, he hadn't also tried to leave through the exit. The manager didn't approach until the checkout guy had already scanned the item.

Do we need to worry about CCJs if we ignore a letter?

Thank you. I think a loss of common sense is right. It just seems to be a complete over reaction. The store manager told me that the fact we spent almost £100 is irrelevant as most shoplifters make a purchase to hide the fact they have stolen something. His choice of language was interesring. He said a number of factors would be taken into account and as "your husband says he's never been caught doing anything like this before" that would go in his favour (not he's never done anything like this before) It's almost like it was the end of the month and he hadn't met his targets for catching shoplifters so was clutching at straws a bit. I'm not actually sure exactly what he said when he asked him to go to the office with him, I wasn't there at that point. I'll have to ask him.

Thank you. It was The Range. They detained him while he was paying for the item. The police didn't arrest or caution him. We won't be going back to the store so if we get a ban it doesn't really matter.

I was shopping with my husband a few days ago. We spend almost £100 in a shop. Took it out to the car (no alarms sounded when we left the shop) and then my husband returned the trolley to the store. He had to go back in through the entrance to do this (again no alarms sounded) As he went to leave (through the entrance) the alarm went off. Thinking it was because he was leaving through the wrong door he went to the exit. As he did so he got the car key out of his pocket to put the trolley token back in the key ring he realised that there was a pack of hook and eyes costing £1.89 in his pocket. He doesn't remember, but thinks he was holding them when I asked him to lift something heavy into the trolley so must have just done it while he was distracted. At this point the exit alarm also went off. He went over to the till and attempted to pay for the item. The store manager then approached and told the checkout staff that he couldn't pay for the item as he'd attempted to remove it and asked my husband to accompany him to the office. Security was also called. My husband did as asked without causing an issue. He was told that the store policy is to prosecute in 100% of cases involving theft and the police were called. The shop took all of my husband's details. In the meantime, he was told that even if the police did not pursue the case the store would launch a civil prosecution and it would go on his record and he would have to pay a fine/compensation & all associated legal costs. The police arrived quite quickly. Asked him and the store manager what had happened and then told my husband there would be no criminal case as there was no intent to permenantly deprive the store of the item, and said if the store had no more need of him he could leave and they would wait 5 minutes before they would leave to save him from any further embarrassment. We have not yet heard back from the store but then this only happened 2 days ago. This has left us both very shaken. We have little income (both self employed and as the business is only 3 years old we are not currently taking a salary) so a fine of any amount will be pretty devastating for us and leave us in financial difficulty. It's also highly embarrassing to have to deal with this and could have an impact on our business if any of our customers or potential customers saw what happened (we were in a distinctive branded vehicle so anyone seeing us leave could identify us). It was a genuine mistake which he tried to rectify! To me this doesn't seem to be a crime but I'm not sure where he stands as he did leave the shop before returning and realising his mistake. Any advice would be gratefully received.