A Waitrose employee who said he was sacked after tackling a shoplifter trying to steal a bag of Easter eggs should be reinstated and handed a bonus, according to the Conservatives.
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A Waitrose employee who said he was sacked after tackling a shoplifter trying to steal a bag of Easter eggs should be reinstated and handed a bonus, according to the Conservatives.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the supermarket chain had acted “disgracefully” by dismissing shop assistant Walker Smith, a long-standing employee who had worked at London’s Clapham Junction branch for 17 years.
Mr Smith, 54, claims he was sacked two days after confronting a shoplifter who was attempting to steal the chocolate eggs, leading to a brief struggle before the shoplifter fled.
The employee told The Guardian that after one of the bunnies broke into pieces he picked up a chunk and threw it towards shopping trolleys in frustration, not aiming it at the shoplifter.
Mr Smith said he was told off by his manager and apologised, but the issue was escalated.
Waitrose has said that reporting of Mr Smith’s case, based on an interview with the newspaper, does not cover the “full facts of the situation”.
Mr Smith told the publication he regretted how he acted, but had been spurred on by watching thefts at the store “every hour of every day for the last five years”.
“When I got home I was punching myself and thinking: ‘Why did I do that’,” he said.
Image: Waitrose in Clapham Junction. File pic In a letter to Waitrose managing director Tom Denyard that Mr Philp shared on X, he called for Mr Smith to be reinstated and given a bonus “for his bravery an initiative”.
