Customers have vowed to stop shopping at Waitrose after the supermarket chain sacked a worker for tackling a thief trying to steal Easter chocolate.
Walker Smith, who worked at the Clapham Junction branch in London for 17 years, claimed he was fired by the retailer two days after he confronted the ‘repeat offender’ shoplifter when a customer told him someone had filled their bag with Easter eggs.
A tug-of-war briefly ensued between the pair before the bag broke and the Lindt Gold Bunny Eggs, which retail for £13 each, spilled onto the floor, smashing into pieces.
Mr Smith’s bosses made the decision to sack him as staff had been told not to approach shoplifters.
Waitrose has since defended its decision, claiming there is a ‘serious danger to life’ in tackling thieves and its staff policies must be ‘strictly followed’.
But furious shoppers have lashed out at the supermarket, vowing never to return to the store following Mr Smith’s dismissal.
‘After you sack a long-standing employee for trying to stop a shoplifter, I’m afraid I can no longer shop at your store… Disgusting decision,’ one customer wrote.
‘You have been very unfair and as a result I will no longer shop at your stores, this is outrageous!’ a second added.
Waitrose shop assistant Walker Smith, 54, was sacked after tackling a shoplifter who was trying to steal luxury Easter eggs
‘I will no longer shop at Waitrose,’ a third declared.
The shoplifter, who Mr Smith said he recognised as a repeat offender, fled from the store as the shop assistant picked up a piece of broken chocolate, throwing it ‘out of frustration’ in the direction of some trolleys.
Although he insists he did not aim for the thief, he was scolded by his manager and made to apologise.
Meanwhile, his superior decided to escalate the incident, leading to Mr Smith pleading with his store managers to keep his job, saying Waitrose was like his ‘family’.
His bosses decided to sack him as staff had previously been told not to approach shoplifters.
Other customers have also hit out at the chain, branding the decision ‘disgraceful’.
‘People should not be penalised for standing up for what is right. @Waitrose not only need to immediately re-employ Walker Smith. They need to apologise to Walker who has given 17 years of service & saw Waitrose as “his family”,’ one wrote.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp posted a letter to the company’s managing director Tom Denyard, calling for the worker to get his job back.
He also urged Waitrose to give the 54-year-old a bonus ‘for his bravery and initiative’, as he maintained ‘dismissing a long-serving employee in these circumstances sends entirely the wrong message’.
A Waitrose spokesman said: ‘The safety and security of our Partners and customers couldn’t be more important to us, and we have policies in place to protect both.
The incident happened at a Waitrose store in Clapham Junction, south London, after Mr Smith was told someone had ‘filled a bag’ with the eggs
‘We’ve had incidents where our Partners have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters. Luckily, they have always recovered, but that might not always be the case.
‘There is a serious danger to life in tackling shoplifters. We refuse to put anyone’s life at risk and that’s why we have policies in place that are very clearly understood and must be strictly followed.
‘As a responsible employer, we never want to be in a position where we are notifying families of a tragedy because someone tried to stop a theft. Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for.
‘The reporting on this does not cover the full facts of the situation. While we would never be able to discuss an individual case, we can assure you the correct process is being followed, which includes a standard appeals procedure.
‘We have campaigned for some time for more to be done to protect shop workers from offenders, including retail crime being made into a specific stand alone offence.’
