Thank you very much everyone. You have put my mind at ease. I've read the judgement and it seems very reasonable by the judge since one of the key principles from the law of torts can't be proven by the claimant (the damages). So the scenario would be essentially identical in my case, since the security guards were actively engaging in their duties and the cost of the security equipment would be the same with or without any illicit activities taking place. They also can't claim that the security guards could have been patroling the shop floor instead of booking me, since by that logic it could be said that the security guards could have been looking at the cameras instead of patroling the shop floor or vice-versa (they can't do all of their roles at once). The manager would have also been doing his job by overseeing the smooth running of the business, and any staff mamber (if any) that may have notified the security team were also doing their job by notifying the security guards if they saw any suspicious activity. There are also multiple checkouts and multiple staff monitoring the self-checkouts, so the business kept running smoothly and there was no loss of revenue. In my case, the relevant goods were also returned to them undamaged. The administration costs are the only thing that i didn't understand very well. Anyways, thank you very much again guys. I will keep you posted if/when i receive any letters. Cheers. PS: I know it would only matter for legal jobs/ medical/ politics jobs, but say in the 1 in a million chance that this went to court and they won, would the CCJ affect someones ability to persue these careers? Just out of interest and for the sake of arguement, as someone else posted before about the type of careers that any records can really matter for.

I would like to thank everyone so much for their support and advice. I am much more calm now. So it is VERY, VERRRY unlikely that it would go to court based on not paying the agencies. I would like to read that judgement from July 2012 Silverfox I will update this thread if i receive any letters, just so you guys can have a look at them.

So since there are no damages, i am not liable (or have to pay them)?

So what would my course of action be from now on? Obviously just shop somewhere else and never do anything like that again. What about if/when i start receiving the letters from drydens, and when they pass the debt on to debt collectors. What should i do then?

Could ASDA choose to involve the police from this point on? Even after simply banning me and deeming it a civil matter. Especially if i do not comply with their (or their solicitor's) requests for money.

Some of the things they said did seem somewhat wierd, but i am just very glad that they didn't call the police. As i said, i remained very apologetic and cooperative the whole time. I offered to pay for the items which they declined, and they then returned the items back to their rightful shelf in the store. I am just terribly embarrased and ashamed of myself for trying something like this. If they do inform my university, they would be acting unlawfully themselves right?

The manager repeated 3 or more times that they would be informing my university, and said that this was their company policy and how they handled every similar case. And that is would be the same if it was my employer, instead of an educational establishment like in this case.

Hello everyone, i am currently in a very worried state. Today i was banned from asda for shoplifting. They took me to a quiet room on the side with CCTV which they said took my picture. No Police were called, they simply made me sign a form stating that i was banned from all ASDA stores. They took my student ID and i assume they wrote down some details from it, and told me that my university would be notified of what had happened. The goods were returned to the shop and i offered to pay for them anyways, which the manager declined. I remained very appologetic and cooperative during the whole ordeal. The total item value was £13. For which i only paid £0.70 at the self checkout by falsely weighing it as a different item. The £0.70 was obviously not refunded to me. I am now very worried of the following: -That i will be expelled from my university course. -That it will have an impact on future employment due to criminal record. -Will i be fined (by the RLP according to other articles here?). They asked me for my address but i only gave them a basic street of the student flats where i am living now. They said that it wasn't showing up, i then gave them the postcode for the area which i am unsure the lad even attempted to write down, and it is a pretty large area that the postcode covers. So overall, i am somewhat positive that they dont have my address. I have learnt my lesson and i will never again do anything like this in my life. I am absolutely terrified. I would appreciate any advice or counsel that anyone here could provide. Thank you. EDIT: I have just read that ASDA uses a company called Drydens for their civil recoveries, but i am still unsure if it will apply to me?