Hi , this is my first post.

Yesterday I went through a horrible situation.

I was in London designer outlet I have been caught of shoplifting after I left gap.

The manager of gap and the security of the outer took me in the back .

They asked me to open my bag , I tooked everything out . ( I had 2 items from gap, 1 from Nike and one from next )

they didn't call the police , they took my name , my address and my pictures.

After and other security came to take my id and my picture .

I never felt so bad in my all life.

today I m even feeling worse .

I m scared about the consequences .

They said I will receive a letter but they did not specify which kind .

I was in a total panic , 3 man asking me question made it even worse .

I never had any criminal record .

I never did this before .

I really would like to know if with the ban from all gaps and from the outlet which they gave me I will also have a criminal record .

I work in a shop and I'm really scared they will enter my dates in the database and from my work place they will see it .

They didn't ask mr to pay , they banned me for 24 months .

I m in a total panic . I m feeling really bad about myself and really bad about my future .

Which consequences all of this will bring up ?

I would really appreciate your responses .

Many thanks

moved to the RLP forum.

you ignore everything

you'll get scary letters from RLP threatening everything from killing your grandma to murdering her budgie.

you TOTALLY IGNORE THEM.

there is NO CRIMINAL RECORD

no-one bar YOU will know about it

it cannot effect your job.

as for going to GAP stores

don't go back to that one for a few months

no they don't circulate any pictures

dx

Hi and welcome to CAG.

I can sometimes tell from the style of posting that there is more to this. People shoplift for all sorts of reasons and for first timers it is either a moment of stupidity or they have issues in their life that has affected them which can lead to needing a high to make them feel better and it is this that comes through in your post. You have acknowledged what you have done and (from your post) you won't do it again.

On to consequences. You could go back to the same store but all they would be likely to do is escort you out. Avoid that particular store. Here is where I differ from DX. I believe that photos taken could be circulated within the GAP group. Data protection rules apply so they can't distribute your image to other stores. The best way to test this out is to go to another GAP and see what happens. Nothing I expect.

The police were not involved and therefore there will be nothing on any police database. You won't get a criminal record either for the same reason so nothing to worry about there.

There are two companies that shops tend to use in civil recovery claims. Retail Loss Prevention (RLP) and DWF. The latter is a solicitor however they have the same power as RLP. None whatsoever.

All these companies do is send letters saying that the store has incurred a cost for security and want you to pay it. Store security is a 'base cost' for the store and the cost of it is factored into the price paid at the check out by the purchasing public so any claim is spurious at best and just plain lying at worst.

When goods are not recovered or are too damaged to resell, a store (NOT RLP or DWF) can sue for that loss plus a small admin fee and certainly not the inflated amounts demanded (anywhere from £100-£150) RLP state that this amount is not the full cost of the security and go on to say that security costs are between £300-500 and you are paying a 'contribution.' This contribution will go to line the Civil Recoveries pockets will a smaller amount to the store.

In short.

1 You will get a letter (probably from RLP)

2 You can totally ignore the letter. There's bu**er all they can do to you

3 Continue ignoring further letters

4 If a debt collector becomes involve-ignore them too. They can do even less to you (as in nothing)

5 Don't worry about any court case. This doesn't happen and hasn't happened for over 6 years since a retailer tried it on and lost-big!

6 Don't worry about any police action nor any marks being placed on your DBS file. No police involvement.

7 Your employer will never need to know about this nor should they find out. If you move jobs and the application form states 'have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence', the truthful answer is no.

8 Lastly, I recommend you see your GP to discuss why you did this. Your GP has probably seen this before and will understand. He or she can offer many things that we on CAG cannot.

You are beating yourself up too much over this. Take a step back and read this and other threads to see what has happened with others.