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Sainsbury's discrimination against law abiding teenagers

Saira Horner | 20.03.2006 22:26 | Education | Social Struggles | Birmingham

Sainsbury’s store in Oswestry, Shropshire, UK has taken the decision to put a blanket ban on all children wearing The Marches School uniform.

The Deputy Store Manager has informed me that they have had a problem with stock disappearing and children being abusive. He admitted that this was a minority of pupils. Instead of taking the more commonsense approach of using their security team and security camera to identify the troublemakers they have instead decided to ban all 1300 pupils unless they are accompanied by a responsible adult.

As the parent of three boys aged 14, 11 and 8 I am deeply concerned about the implications of this ban. We teach our children right from wrong, to respect other people and their property and also that every action has a consequence.

I have asked Sainsbury’s to reconsider and to use parental, school and police involvement to identify the troublemakers – their reply was that it was too time consuming and there was a sense of apathy. A spokeswoman from the school disputed this however and said that the school wanted to work in partnership with Sainsbury’s, as they aim to do with the whole neighbourhood, she had also offered to identify any pupils involved either in person or from CCTV footage but instead Sainsbury’s have decided to take the easy option and ban the one group of people who have less of a voice in our society

Suddenly faced with the fact that possibly I was wrong and that we may be bringing up a posse of unruly children in Oswestry I phoned around the other supermarkets to hear their policies thankfully they were all a lot more sensible!

Kwik Save have said they are finding it hard to cope with the sudden influx of children on their way to school so have banned school children between 8am and 9am.

Somerfield in Oswald Road said they found it hard to understand why Sainsbury’s had taken this step and said that any problems in store whether stemming from a child or an adult would be tackled on an individual basis and that there would certainly not be a blanket ban.

Cool Trader said they would take a “common sense approach” If a group of children started to loiter they would be asked to leave, they didn’t feel it was right to tar everyone with the same brush and said that they knew who the trouble makers were and that these few children were watched.

Iceland had a similar approach stating that occasionally groups of children loitered in store and if they did so they would be asked to leave, they didn’t feel a ban was appropriate however.

If this ban affected any other sector of society there would be an outcry, it was happening 50 years ago to various ethnic groups, 30 years ago to people with differing abilities, thankfully there are now laws in place to prevent this discrimination – but not it seems if you are aged between 11 and 16!

Although Sainsbury’s may feel that they will not miss the smaller amounts of money that the children and young people spend on their way to and from school they may like to reconsider their position if parents decide to take their business elsewhere. I would usually spend £80 - £100 in Sainsbury’s on a weekly basis. I will not be shopping in this store however whilst this extremely unjust ban is in place and I would urge other parents and like minded individuals to also boycott Sainsbury’s in Oswestry and instead use Iceland, Cool Trader or Somerfield who all appear to have a less discriminatory approach.


Saira Horner
- e-mail: saira172@gmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

£80-100 per week!!

20.03.2006 23:35

jeez - if you support these multi-national companies to this level (£5000 per annum) then i'm sorry, don't come complaining here when your children are affected by them! actually, perhaps the store is doing your kids a favour, although it should be you teaching them not to shop there in the first place, not them!

try spending LESS than £80-100 per YEAR at supermarkets and support local shops and local produce instead, or have they all dissappeared because of people like you?

sorry, but really i've got no sympathy on this one.

one quick question - do you also drive a 4x4?

rikki


Target the supermarkets

20.03.2006 23:40

This is outrageous and worrying. I hope that the kids will not now been seen to be causing trouble in proper local shops as they are forced out of the supermarket. It seems more and more that kids become the scapegoat for everything and collective punishment is the rule rather than the exception.

Sainsbury is of course an awful unethical company but with the media in the state it is in I guess we cab't expect the kids to know better and spend their money in a way less harmful to the local community, farmers and the planet. Mind you, if it really is the case that some of the kids are shoplifting then maybe their heads are screwed on right and they know which companies to larget. I dearly hoped that is the case and that these young shoplifters arn't tempted to go steal from small family run shops now they arn't allowed in this particular supermarket.

I have boycotted Sainsbury for year because of their policy on using GM fed animal feed and I always tried to avoid shopping in any supermarket if I can help it. I prefer to support local shops and therefore the local economy rather than give money to the supermarkets who have done so much to destroy the livelihoods of farmers and trash our communities. However, when I am in an area where all the local shops have been driven out by the cancerous presence of the supermarkets, I do greatly enjoy my visits to the supermarkets.

Stealing from supermarkets is an indescribable pleasure, I highly recommend it. It is incredibly easy especially if you don't fit the profile. I am middle aged white and well presented so while the security are following the usual suspects I can get to work unobserved. Ironically I often take advantage of the presence of groups of noisy youngsters in the store as the in-store 'detective' can easily be spotted loitering nearby and will be completely tunnel visioned.

Anyway, I hope that the parents stand up for their kids on this mater and that the kids see the right and just path.

Margret


luvin it

21.03.2006 01:25

go french on them the scumcunt bawbags

eejit
mail e-mail: steviewondersmaw@swp.orgasm.uk


Heres to disobedient kids!!

21.03.2006 13:26

Fair play to the unruly children stealing from sainbury's, i'd advise everybody, particularly those employed by sainsbury's to steal the produce, after all sainsbury's is making a killing from their labour in a direct or indirect way so why not take a little back?

undesirable


pride in your work

21.03.2006 17:26

-It is incredibly easy especially if you don't fit the profile.

As bored teenage punks, who certainly did fit the profile, we used to entertain ourselves by walking into the poshest stores in a group. We'd split up, wander around for twenty minutes picking up fragile or expensive things only to put them back down again somewhere else, then we'd meet up at a prearranged aisle and whoever had the most store detectives following them won the game. As we never stole anything they didn't ban us, and even now when I see someone shoplifting I try and act as suspiciously as possible as a decoy.

I think most people don't shoplift simply out of shame of being caught, but if you take pride in it then you can turn the tables on them.
I know a Spanish girl who travelled around Britain for a year with no money ( the dole office here owed her money but never paid it ) shoplifting and skipping. She'd get arrested all the time and let off without charge simply to avoid paperwork, but once she got held over a weekend for stealing and eating the packed lunch of the officer who had arrested her earlier on suspicion - and she was furious about that, it was maybe her response that got her held over - screaming 'BASTARD FASCIST PIG, I STARVE AND YOU EAT SO MUCH YOU DIE, YOU ARE FAT AND STUPID LIKE PIG'. Even then she never got charged, as the policeman doubtless was fat as a pig and didn't want that pointed out in a court of law by a skinny little girl.

Usual Suspect


thanks...

22.03.2006 09:31

"but once she got held over a weekend for stealing and eating the packed lunch of the officer who had arrested her earlier on suspicion"

Thats the funniest thing I've read this week - thanks for the laugh!

Graham
- Homepage: http://www.spiralseed.co.uk


Good luck...

07.04.2006 22:39

At the end of the day although it is true that the children are the future and all that crap, as a younger generation member who has just come out of the education system, I personally would have to say that on the whole the attitudes of children have gone dramatically down hill over recent years. I believe this is partially due to the double income families who get chance to spend less amount of time with their children, and as a result leave their children to learn their morals and ethics from the world of children’s TV and popular film and music culture.
Although yes this is stereotyping as I know that not everyone is like this, parents are being naive to believe their children are pure and white all the time while they are out of the house. Ask yourself this, would you really know if your child was smoking, stealing, committing sexual acts, participating in drug taking. For many of you the answer is probably yes and you believe that your children can't hide these sorts of things from you but with today’s culture it’s just too easy! Children are no different than any other group except they are at an influential age, and if you do not change your ways while you are young its incredibly hard to as the 40 year old, smartly dressed 'not fitting the profile' shop lifter will tell you.
Frankly, I find that sort of behaviour unacceptable and hope to god that you are stopped and put through civil recovery, which if successful will mean you pay back something like, the price of the goods stolen plus £150 for the process of having to go through civil recovery plus another £50 per hour per person involved in an investigation.
And on another note, Sainsbury’s didn’t just crop up one day as the large company it is today it has grown and expanded from a small family run business, so at what point does a family run business become ok to steal from, when it appears in more than one neighbourhood or when your a few pennies short!?

Franky B


?!!

10.04.2006 18:02

You yoghurt smoking, sprout toteing, brocolli munching, herbal tea sipping quasi socialt terorists!!!

A 4x4 is one of my three cars, which I am taxed heavily for, to support your friggin pensions & housing benefits!

Local produce is of course better, but admitting to theiving from a supermarket as a so-called respectible member of middle class (if there is such a thing) society is frankly disgusting. (An exclamiation mark would make this look like an unjustified rant - which it isn't). Steal a car - shoplift, morally there is no difference.

To be honest, I'm ashamed that I share a town with people like you.... Some people have not had the opportunity of being brought up better, but theiving and using kids as a distraction....

I hope I clock you in Sainsburys, because I have no qualms about getting your arse arrested and will do all that I can to ensure it happens.

People like YOU deride 'the younger generation' - well what do you expect with examples to follow like yours?!

Words fail me - Sainsburys aren't societies enemies, people like you are.

Gavster


Sainsbury's Discrimination Against Young People

27.04.2007 14:34

I think it's disgusting the way that Sainsbury's have decided on a blanket ban on 'prospective future customers' by lumping them all in one stereotype. My children have been regular shoppers at my local one (Edgware for years) until yesterday when they were stopped by security staff. I marched down there and was surrounded by the duty manager, security guard and member of staff (imagine 3 men trying to intimidate one small lady and kids). Between the 3 eedjits, not one of them was clear on their store policy. They didn't know whether it was put in place last year, the beginning of the year or 2 weeks ago; if it's effective all day, between 9am-4pm (when kids are in school?) or between 4pm-5:30/6pm and then they weren't sure if it's ALL students, students in out of uniform, up to 16/18 (relying on "we can tell!"). Apparently they are meant to have a sign outside the store which of course, they do not and they are at liberty to exclude whoever they wish at their own discretion, "We can stop everyone!" - Head office Customer Service?, (Well, GOOD LUCK with that Sainsbury's!). It makes you wonder who's next on their hitlist. Needless to say, i'll be shopping at customer friendly stores where customers and potential customer are NOT all tarred with the same brush.

izon1


Agreed

26.05.2010 15:28

I am a Law-Abiding young man aged 12. I went to the putney high-street store in London and the security guard at the told me to leave in a rude and agressive manner. I asked him why and he said we dont allow school children in. Now I dont know who they think they are and think that is acceptable to the majority who are law-abiding.

This is Plain ridiculous!!!!!

Please reply,

Nikhil

Nikhil
mail e-mail: nikhillambo@googlemail.com