A long story! My brother was accosted whilst in a Morrison’s supermarket & accused of shoplifting,on 12th March 2018 (since this, I witnessed at least 4 people doing the same thing as my brother)

We made an in store complaint in a record book as no manager present, I then complained via their website & email & also to the Liverpool Echo over his treatment as my brother is a very ill man due to pancreatic cancer,

Morrison’s supermarkets Plc have stated to a reporter with the Liverpool Echo

" They have said that your brother is a known shoplifter to the store and on the second occasion was caught with four bottles of champagne."

its stated that he was caught by the store undercover security team & photographed!

It took over a week before anyone from Morrisons called us & this after me sending about 4 email requests for information ,

I was met with constant refusals

On the day this was alleged to have happened, he was home all day ill as the previous day he had chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer,

We also have a letter from the district nurse who visits him every day to recharge his driver who states its physically impossible for him to carry 4 bottles of champagne!

I have now completed the Subject Data Access request form and we look forward to receiving a full written apology from Morrison’s Plc

Its virtually impossible to get to speak to the hierarchy at Morrison’s does anyone have any advice please

So please can you tell us what it is that you say your brother was actually doing.

That will help us understand a bit more what the situation is and make it easier to give you advice

Sorry, We were in Morrisons supermarket in Maghull Liverpool & my brother had several items of groceries in his arms which he intended to purchase.

Having realised he had forgotten an item to pick up

he asked a shop assistant where this item was, the assistant pointed to the grocery section and my brother then proceeded to pass by the self service check out tills intending to then circle round back through the store to pay for all his items. (I was waiting by the check out tills)

It was at this moment that two members of staff literally accosted my brother by standing in his way & accusing him of attempted shoplifting!

My brother is 63 years old, in an extremely frail condition, which is blatantly obvious to anyone that he is seriously ill!

And it is obvious that he is undergoing medication, as his driver was clearly visible outside his coat.

My brother was extremely humiliated and was left feeling distraught by this uncalled for and aggressive harassment and implication of shoplifting.

He immediately requested to speak to a manager or supervisor, the assistant he spoke to said there was no manager or supervisor present & that he would have to speak to her, she identified herself initially as Barbara and said “you don’t need any other name, the young male assistant refused to give his name and stated “its on my badge” his name I think was Mark.

This lady then later identified herself as Barbara and also stated there were no other senior members of staff nor a manager present, the only form of making a complaint we had was when a so called report book was placed in front of my brother in which I then entered a brief outline of what had transpired.

When we returned home I made a complaint via email & was told that Morrisons have the right to stop people they suspect of shoplifting , which is fair enough, however, my brother certainly does not shoplift, does not fit the profile of a shoplifter & is certainly physically incapable of shoplifting!

I continued to send emails to Morrisons and placed posts on their facebook page, I asked for cctv of the incident etc, they replied saying they couldnt help me with my request & nothing else, so then I contacted their media department & the Liverpool echo, it was only after I contacted their media dept asking to speak to the head honcho that somebody eventually contacted me,

This person then stated that my brother was involved in an incident with undercover security on 14h March between 4 & 5pm ! this made me smile! on the 13th March he had 4 hours of heavy chemotherapy , due to his cancer he's on the strongest available Folfirinox, google it , its terrible,

On the day he was alleged to have been caught & photographed, he was physically & mentally incapable of leaving the house I had to hold him and console that he would be better the following week,

Morrisons have stated to a reporter from the Liverpool Echo that my brother is a "known shoplifter" & was caught with 4 bottle of champagne on 14th March, so its watch this space and we wait now until we can go & see the cctv footage plus the still photograph allegedly of my brother

If they have proof then that's all they need. His cancer doesn't factor into that. Besides. He can be banned for whatever reason they want.

so they have their dates mixed up?

but the incident 'did' happen.

he was poorly advised by in store staff, because of a forgotten item, to go 'around again'

that is when the incident happened.

hope you get this sorted, but don't be too hot-headed

keep calm and let them deal with it.

an email to the ceo via ceoemail.com might be an idea.

but keep it brief and to the point

Hi

I can full appreciate why you are trying to deal with this on your brothers behalf.

To get the information you require as the Data Subject is your Brother therefore the Data Protection Act (DPA) comes into play with morrisions and as the Data Subject is your brother they are not going to release information to yourself not even cctv.

What you need is letter of Authority/Permission from your Brother in writing to deal with this matter with Morrisions on his behalf and a copy goes to Morrisons, without that Morrisions will not give you any information as this matter is to do with your brother not you.

Just to clear a few things up,

My brother wasn't shoplifting

the alleged second incident did not happen

I have emailed David Potts the CEO of Morrisons, yes I obtained his email address from ceomail, I have never received a reply from him , only from minions in Head Office who after conversing with them on the phone are absolutely clueless about Morrisons policy's , names of store managers, and who have stated that they have not seen any footage yet have stated over the phone that my brother was caught by undercover security!

Yes, I have written permission from my brother to act on his behalf all relevant documentation has been sent to Morrisons Loss Prevention and acknowledged, we are now waiting to hear from them as to when we can go & see the cctv footage,

My brother wasn't shoplifting

the alleged second incident did not happen

Are you sure? Can you prove it without CCTV?

Hi

Normally in situations like this, I would have transferred the thread to our 'shoplifting' forum however, I feel it would be better here.

I have also tweeted this to Morrisons. Wonder if they will bother to respond?

Are you sure? Can you prove it without CCTV?

Yes & yes to both questions

While morrisons may be in the wrong, i think the most youll prob get is an apology and thats it. Same as from any of the major supermarkets

Trouble is it appears to have been reported to a local paper and that can be good or bad.

Correct me if this is wrong.

That opens a new can of worms if the reporter is minded to print that statement along with the proof that it wasnt true.

Morrisons will have painted themselves into a corner then so get after finding evidence of the truth regarding the whereabouts of your brother that day.

The matter will go viral if it does get into the public domain but the paper will need something out of the whole thing if they do go with you on this so careful what you wish for

facebook

Morrisons wouldnt have gone to the paper themselves. SOmeone has contacted them, and morrisons were forced to issue a statement. Trying to say morrisons went to the papers wouldnt have worked, as they dont do that. Same as asda, tesco dont

I agree, Morrisons local management has been asked to comment and they have made an allegation that will have to be proved IF the local paper them publishes ( they are unlikely to, they dont want to be party to a libel suit) BUT the OP can use that as leverage to ensure they dont just give a grudging apology as the reported could publish an article and put the stores comments in as a response and as it is comment te paper would be in the clear leaving a straightforward libel by Morrisons.

Now that doesnt mean that running off to court is a good idea but Morrisons wont be able to rebut the story and things like that do spread on social media.

The paper can put whatever slant they want on this so my warning was about whether the OP would want to use this particular stick to beat them with as her brother would be named and some would wonder about why the (untrue) statement was made if it wasnt based on siomething they knew

It depends if it is untrue. The OP says it is wrong, the store has done a full investigation and made an official statement about it.

did your brother leave the shop with items, if he didnt then they cant stop him for shoplifting until he actually went out of the store.

did your brother leave the shop with items, if he didnt then they cant stop him for shoplifting until he actually went out of the store.

Actually they can. If he went past the last point of payment and was obviously heading towards the exit, then they can stop him. HOWEVER we only have one side of the story and limited info.