What should i do with being wrongly treated by asda security staff

[ShockedSuzie]

I regulary shop at my local asda, at least twice a week. I got my few items and went to checkout and paid upon this i was approached by two security guards who stated to me " we believe you are banned from this store" i was shocked and said " no why whats up"". I had used the same store for over 20 years.

 

The one security guard said " we have a photo of you with someone in a wheelchair". i was shocked i said they must be wrong. he insisted that it was true. so I said what have i supposed to have done? . he said we cant tell you because of data protection. So I then get rather upset and disraught as lots of customers was around me.

 

The guard advised me to leave the store. So i did and i got to my car and thought i want to know more what is going on. So i went back in and asked for the manager. who came and soon as i had explained what was going on she asked the guards to show them the file with the photo. They then proceeded to deny that they had ever said such things !!! i was in massive shock and began crying and lots of people was gathering around looking. I demanded that they didnt call me a liar and to show the manager the file and photo they said they NEVER said such things.

 

The manager asked them to go through the files which they began doing whilst i was left stood in the middle of the store crying. she said they have lots of photos so it take some time. i said it shouldnt take that long if they just so called seen it while i was shopping in the store. she walked off and left me.

 

At this i telephoned the police for advice who explained to me i do have rights to know why all this was going on and to contact asda head office. which i have just emailed them.

 

So i walked up to these two guards who was randomly picking through photos and said im leaving and this wont be the last of this im seeking advice. goodbye.

 

they jeered at me and said "whatever".

 

while i was driving home i was thinking and i recalled that my eldest son had fell out with his girlfriend and that she and her mother both worked in that store on various shifts and i assumed that they had asked for me to get banned from the store so that i wouldnt bump into them...... i may be wrong but yeah....

 

anyway i feel utterly disgraced and lots of people at the school where i fetch my youngest son from are asking what i did in asda.. i feel a criminal and done nothing.

 

can anyone advise me of what i can do please?

 

thank you to anyone who can help me.

[rebel11]

Hi shocked

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain whats happened, tell them you want a full explanation as security guards have made 'false allegations against you', explain what you want them to do.

 

 

Send it to:-

 

Andy Clarke, Chief Executive

[email protected]

 

Some tips:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1242161/How--write-letter-complaint.html

[ShockedSuzie]

thank you for your reply i will get onto it right away. I didnt know wether to contact a solicitor but i will take this step first.

 

much appreciated

[rebel11]

Hi shocked

 

Mention that you are considering taking further action because you were accused in front of other customers on the shop floor and even when they were wrong,

they didn't have the courtesy to say, 'were sorry we got it wrong', tell them how you felt.

 

thank you for your reply i will get onto it right away. I didnt know wether to contact a solicitor but i will take this step first.

 

much appreciated

[ShockedSuzie]

i had a email back on friday from one of andy clarkes collegues who said he was looking into it. Today i get a telephone call from the local asdas manager saying he doing a full investigation. He stated i was definatly wrongly treated and the staff in question didnt follow company policy and i was to accept his appology. Should i take this further for compensation or just accept the appology or what should be my next step of action. thanks people

[2Grumpy]

Must admit I would be a bit miffed at being told that I had to accept his apology ... depends how he framed that. You could always email again ...

[rebel11]

Hi Shocked

 

Well Done. The store thats got it's procedures wrong is investigating, that makes a lot of sense. I would definately pursue it, don't let them off lightly, send another e-mail, tell them you want to be compensated for the embarrassment and distress caused and your happy to purse the matter through the courts.

 

i had a email back on friday from one of andy clarkes collegues who said he was looking into it. Today i get a telephone call from the local asdas manager saying he doing a full investigation. He stated i was definatly wrongly treated and the staff in question didnt follow company policy and i was to accept his appology. Should i take this further for compensation or just accept the appology or what should be my next step of action. thanks people

[Toque]

IThe one security guard said " we have a photo of you with someone in a wheelchair". i was shocked i said they must be wrong. he insisted that it was true. so I said what have i supposed to have done? . he said we cant tell you because of data protection.

Not only can they tell you, if you make a request under the Data Protection Act 1998, they must give you copies of documents and pictures. Make this request at once. When they can't supply this information, you've got them.

 

Did you feel that they were about to use unlawful force against you? If so, that's assault. Were you initially prevented from leaving? If so, that's a restraint from liberty (ie an arrest), and also actionable if unlawful.

 

Do not attend the store to 'discuss' this. Do not use email. Do not deal with this over the telephone. Strictly everything in writing. Don't be bullied or fobbed off. Hit them hard.

[nikontomh]

no company is allowed to keep a picture of you without your permission, the only allowable storage of images is on cctv which can only be held for 30 days unless requested as evidence by police. if a guard tells you they have your picture on file they are breaking the data protection act. i see alot of so called retail security companies with black books of photos and details of people banned or watched for, these are illegal and if they say you are in one then call the police and ask them to sieze the images.

 

oh and so we are clear , only the police can arrest you in the UK security guards have no more rights than any other civilian. They can detain you if they have good suspicion that the store's goods are being removed without being paid for, but they cannot insist on searching you or searching your belongings. If you refused to co-operate, they candetain you until the arrival of the police, who CAN search you. Detaining includes the use of "reasonable force" to do so. BUT they must be able to provide a reasonable and actionable reason to do so.

Edited January 29, 2012 by nikontomh

[LaughingGirl]

How does that apply to the Pub Watch 'barred from one, barred from all' scheme, then? I can't remember off-hand if photo's of barred individuals were distributed to pubs who were members, but it would be very difficult to enforce the barred from one, barred from all policy if photographic evidence wasn't supplied to the other member pubs. How would they know who had been barred elsewhere?

[nikontomh]

the pub scheme is not allowed to use photos unless they are given to them by the police, they can only use names and descriptions. I also worked in the door security sector for many years This is a long disputed topic on weher images are allowed to be kept but i know from working in the sector we were told its not allowed and we would be liable to individual prosecution if we kept our own "black book of images" . The data protection act clearly prevents companies from doing this and if you think your image is being used in this way then you have the right to have it removed as the company is breaking the law

 

Over the years security guards have always gotten a bad press but this is because nowadays they are badly trained, badly paid and generally not suited the job anyway. But people need to use the rights they have and prevent these bullyboy companies and tactics.

 

i will find the regulations and guidelines for images for this and post it.

[nikontomh]

If a Pubwatch scheme intends to store or share information such as CCTV images as a Watch between its members, it should register its activity with the Data Commissioner. Registration is an easy process which can be carried out online and is subject to a relatively modest fee. In addition you should produce your own protocol for the secure handling of data by Watch members. Any data; which includes photographic images, should be dealt with sensitively. A sample data sharing protocol can be found on our website.

 

Sometimes a Watch will also be able to obtain photographs from other sources; such as the press or on publicly accessible social media sites where the individual has posted their image or as previously mentioned, voluntarily direct from the banned person in exchange for a reduced period of exclusion.

The Police may also be willing to provide you with police photographs of banned individuals, but this will be at their discretion and will be for a police purpose e.g. prevention of crime and disorder. It will also be subject to a locally agreed data sharing agreement. Police forces deal with this issue in different ways. Some will produce a folder of police photographs which has to be signed for by the Watch member; others will share them by using a system such as Pubwatch Online where the member has to use a secure password to access the site and the photograph is given a watermark to show who has downloaded an image.

 

which means, they register with the data commissioner and become liable for inspection, or from the banned person themselves for a reduction in ban, or from public domain sources. They must still heed to the regulations and not allow the image to seen by the public or to tell people they hold the image.

[LaughingGirl]

Interesting info. I'll have to ask my OH how it worked in the pub he was licensee for, but I have a vague recollection that they were shown the pictures by the police at the Pubwatch meetings, but not actually allowed the images. I could well be making that up though.

 

Sorry to the OP for the slight thread hijack - I hope your situation was resolved, as best it could be.

[SirHumpy]

no company is allowed to keep a picture of you without your permission, the only allowable storage of images is on cctv which can only be held for 30 days unless requested as evidence by police. if a guard tells you they have your picture on file they are breaking the data protection act. i see alot of so called retail security companies with black books of photos and details of people banned or watched for, these are illegal and if they say you are in one then call the police and ask them to sieze the images.

 

oh and so we are clear , only the police can arrest you in the UK security guards have no more rights than any other civilian. They can detain you if they have good suspicion that the store's goods are being removed without being paid for, but they cannot insist on searching you or searching your belongings. If you refused to co-operate, they candetain you until the arrival of the police, who CAN search you. Detaining includes the use of "reasonable force" to do so. BUT they must be able to provide a reasonable and actionable reason to do so.

 

Wrong. If the photo is taken in an area covered by CCTV, or taken off CCTV, as long as the CCTV signage is displayed images can be kept, providing the company has a data protection policy in place, and has a "reasonable" suspicion that the person has or is likely to comitt an indictable offence.

 

CCTV can be kept for any length of time, ours is currently 90 days then it gets overwritten.