Trespass Notice from Retailer

[secur-serv]

Hi,

 

Last Friday (18/1/13) my 83yr old mother who suffers from vasculardimenture, an illness that effects the decision making process and short termmemory, was noticed in our local *&* store by there security team as"acting suspiciously" that is to say she had entered the store two orthree times in a short period of time. They called the police and by the timethey had arrived my mother had left the store. The police looked at all thecctv footage and could not detect any criminal activity and were leaving thestore when my mother returned once again. One of the PC's approached my motherand asked if she was OK, as he said she looked stressed. After satisfyinghimself that no crime had been committed and that my mother appeared to bedistressed decided to take her home. Before they left the store my mother wasgiven a "Trespass notice" which she brought home.

 

This notice states :-

 

1 You are not permitted to enter into any of our stores again.

 

2 Your right as a member of the public to shop at any of our premises is nowwithdrawn this includes

 

shopping in our branches or online @*&*.com and orders will notbe processed.

 

3 If you choose to ignore this notice you will be asked to leave.

 

4 Failure to do so may result in police action

 

This it seems is a standard letter given to all who "shoplift"from their stores.

 

When they arrived at her house my father answered the door, he's 84, and asmy mother was so distressed he also became upset because of her state. Thepoliceman asked if they had any other family members and was given my details.

 

I spoke to the PC the next day (Saturday) and had the above story told tome. He went on to say that he considered the matter closed as nothing illegalhad occurred and he now knew my parents situation was monitored and they werebeing attended.

 

I asked him what the situation was with this "Trespass Notice" andwhy it had been applied if there had been no offence committed and he told meto just tear it up as it couldn't be enforced anyway.

 

I thanked him for his time and the way he had handled this matter but toldhim I was going to approach the store and ask for this "TrespassNotice" to be "Officially Retracted", as being issued with thenotice is what had upset my mother in the first place and if no crime had takenplace why had it been issued?

He suggested that it may be better if he approached hestore rather than me as they have a close relationship with the stores securityteam, as you would expect, and that he would be in touch later on.

 

By Tuesday afternoon I had not had any contact with the PC so I gave him acall on the contact number he had given me and was told that the store had notyet got back to him. This information was given to me by another PC, as theoriginal one was off duty, but he had called him at home and asked what thesituation was. The second PC then called the store and informed them of myrequest.... Later he called me and told me that a letter of retraction would besent to my parents house in the hopes that this would put the matter behind us.

Later that day the store representative contacted me and told me that nosuch letter would be issued for legal reasons but that they had destroyed theircopy of the "Trespass Notice" and that the matter was closed in theiropinion and that my mother would be welcome to use the store again.

 

So, my question is can I insist that a letter of retraction be issued? Iwould have thought it was the least they could do after causing so muchdistress and embarrassment to my mother.

 

Thanks for your time in reading this

 

 

Edited January 26, 2013 by secur-serv
Store name removed from web site link

[Sidewinder]

Sounds very distressing for your mother.

 

In simple terms, the company involved are entitled to refuse to allow any person that they wish access to their premises. They do not have to give a reason - it is their prerogative who can enter the shop and who can't, although they would be in a good deal of trouble if they were to exclude certain individuals or groups on purely discriminatory grounds - I mean in terms of unlawful discrimination, Race, Sex, Religion, Disability etc.

 

In your mother's situation, I would argue that their actions are grossly insensitive and offensive. It seems that they may have seen your mother as an 'embarrassment' and this needs to be challenged with the organisation concerned. I would suggest that a strongly worded letter of complaint, including an outline of your mother's condition, should be sent to their CEO or Consumer Relations department. Express your outrage that an elderly, confused lady, with a serious medical condition should have been treated in this manner. They will undoubtedly say that the request for police involvement may have been made with the best of intentions, ie concern over her actions and apparent confused state, however I am sure that they will have to agree that a banning notice represents a grossly disproportionate act and was completely unnecessary.

 

You can look up CEO addresses here http://www.ceoemail.com but I would make sure that any communication was also copied to a more generic Customer Relations address as well just in case. I am sure that the local paper might also be interested in the story - and I am sure that the company concerned would not wish to see that type of publicity

[Sidewinder]

I have moved your thread into the General retailer forums as it does not easily fit into any other area.

[ericsbrother]

The Daily Mail loves stories like this (well it is about their customer group), get in touch with them if you want to get an apology from the store's Head Office.