Hiya, I tried to take about £30 of shopping from Waitrose today. I know I'm an idiot (hence the username) I'm not doing it again, I've been scared about it and want to just move on. I'm worried about the civil recovery thing. I admitted to having taken something before on one occasion from Waitrose and so they gave me a lifelong ban. They didn't contact the police but they scanned my ID and took a photo of my face. I got given a letter from RPL. What legal advice do I need to get? They told me I will get a fine 'probably around £100'. When will I get this letter, does anyone know? what happens now? The letter says at the bottom: 'In principle the Data Protection Act 1998 does not prevent the use of data for civil recovery and employment screening purposes... Your personal data may be stored and used by prospective employers within client companies to make employment decisions...' What does this mean realistically? I think I might want to work with kids as a teacher - will this stop me from being able to? Any help is appreciated.

I very stupidly decided to steal items from TK Maxx. I was caught, and the Police were called. The total amount in goods was around £120, and I returned them to the store. I honestly don't know what was running through my head at the time, perhaps just, ohh, I may be able to get that for free if I steal it. I am now feeling like a foolish wreck and will never do it again. The police were called as I am 19 year old female student and in University and I have to pay a £80 fine to Thames Valley Police. I was also issued with a Notice of Intended Civil Recovery. I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN! And I JUST FEEL SO ASHAMED AND GUILTY. I was wondering how much the Civil Recovery charge would perhaps amount to, as I am a student and don't have much money to live on, let alone pay this fee, and I'm feeling really scared. I don't want my parents to find out. I am so sorry and scared, and also wondered if there were people I am able to email and to get some advice. thank you

Hi All, my friend and I were shopping at Asda, she had trolley with her stuff and I had my own stuff, I was in the queue but then realized she is in some kind of trouble with security officers, After 40 mins or so she came out and explained me what happened - for some reasons she took trolley out of asda gate without paying and one security officer came out and asked her if she had paid, she honestly said she has not and came back in, they took her to security room and started interrogating her, they obviously did not believe that it was just her mistake and she agreed that she made a very stupid mistake but she is not a criminal. Moreover she just received British Citizenship and is about to apply for British passport. Security officer did not call any police as she agreed that she made a mistake, and she signed a letter which states that she is now banned from coming to asda for next 6 months or so, officer also mentioned that she will be receiving fine of £150 which she has no issues in paying She is working as a manager in a very reputed company and now extremely worried for following reasons, has been reading about all of this since it happened yesterday with her, Any kind of help will be much appreciated. 1. Is this incident going to affect her current employment, she is working there from last 4+ years and has very good reputation 2. Is this incident going to affect her future jobs etc especially if she works for a financial institution 3. Is this going to affect her passport application, she has already received British citizenship 4. Is this information going to be shared with police? can police be involved now? 5. Officer told her that she will receive civil recovery fine from another company, I read some posts related to that where it says that her information will be stored in National database of dishonest people, is that true, if yes how does this affect her career? Pls help with information, does she needs to visit a lawyer? Regds Shikha