Accused of stealing from a supermarket

[littlefeet]

Hi, On the weekend I popped into my local supermarket to get a few things, I had my 2yr old with me and I put him in the trolley. I usually go with a list as I am a scatter brain but this time I forgot so I picked up some items that I remembered we needed and on my way round I put my carrier bag into the trolley. I wasn't really thinking about it I just put it in. Anyway when I got to the till's I put the stuff from the trolley onto the belt and had to take a chocolate bar off my son to pay for it and he started to cry for it. I was distracted by this and didn't check the trolley. I paid for my stuff but on the way out a woman security officer called me back and walked me through the store to a room at the back and asked me if I knew why we were there I said no so she proceeded to tell me that she had seen me on the cameras put an item in my trolley and then cover it with my shopping bag then at the tills I left the bag and the item in the trolley (clearly I didn't leave the bag in the trolley because I filled it with my shopping). The item was still in the trolley and I apologised for the mistake and said I honestly wasn't thinking and I was distracted at the till. She then told me she wasn't going to call the police on this occasion and I wouldn't receive a ban but she needed me to write down my details on a plain A4 piece of paper while she got someone to sit with me and got a receipt for the item. By now I'm in tears because I wasn't trying to steal anything and I was hugely embarrassed, I had the money in my hand to pay for the item which was £4.50 but wasn't given the opportunity to offer to pay for it. When she came back she said I understand what you said about your child at the till but to me he appeared to be behaving well, as I said we won't get the police involved or action a store ban but because of the value of the item I will have to send this to head office who will send you a civil recovery loss because I had to watch you on cctv, bring you here and get someone to sit with you. The manager made out that it would be a small fine maybe £2.50-£3.50 and no where near the £90 the police would have charged me. She took the piece of paper from me and told me I could leave.

 

How long does it usually take for a civil recovery letter to come through? I've also read it seems I'll be in for a hefty fine £150+ which seems excessive to me for a £4.50 item.

 

Also I never filled out an official form it was a plain piece of A4 and they didn't even ask me for ID, is it possible they were just trying to scare me and I won't hear anything back from it do you think? As my husband seems to think they don't have the power to do anything and even if I do get a letter I should just ignore it and forget about it and was just an honest mistake.

 

This is really playing on my mind though, it has taught me a lesson to thoroughly check my trolley at the check out but I feel like I can no longer shop in that shop because every time I set foot in there they will be watching me all around the shop!

[reallymadwoman]

Read the many threads on retail loss prevention and similar.

 

It's not a fine, it's a speculative invoice with no grounding in law which you are not obliged to pay.