Waitrose sacks employee after he stopped shoplifter stealing Easter treats
A Waitrose employee of 17 years was sacked after he stopped a shoplifter from running out with a big full of stolen Easter eggs.
Walker Smith, a shop assistant at a Waitrose branch in Clapham Junction, south London, approached the thief despite the company telling staff not to.
The 54-year-old was going about his normal duties when a customer told him that someone had ransacked the display of Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs and stuffed them in a bag.
Walker spotted the shoplifter, who he said was a repeat offender,and grabbed his bag with the chocolate treats.
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There was then a brief struggle over the bag before it snapped and Lindt Gold Bunny eggs fell to the floor.
The shoplifter ran out of the exit as Walker threw a piece of broken bunny towards some shopping trolleys ‘out of frustration’, he told the Guardian.
The employee’s actions went against orders from bosses not to approach shoplifters.
But Walker said he acted after the toll of seeing thieves get away with it for years.
He told the Guardian: ‘I’ve been there 17 years. I’ve seen it happen every hour of every day for the last five years.
‘It’s everybody from drug addicts to teenagers nicking bits and bobs or walking out with bottles of wine in their arms. We’re not allowed to do anything.’
Walker claimed that security had been scaled back at the shop, with no guards working on Mondays and Thursdays because ‘shoplifting incidents aren’t reported enough’.
After stopping the criminal from escaping, Walker said he was told off by his manager and apologised, but the matter was escalated.
He was brought into a meeting with two store managers, where he made a final plea to bosses not to kick him out of his ‘family’, but he was dismissed, the Guardian reports.
Walker, who is diagnosed with anxiety, said: ‘I tried to stay strong and I didn’t say a word but inside I was crying. They led me out the back door by the bins. I just felt demoralised.’
He fears he might become homeless, having just moved into his own studio flat after living with flatmates for 25 years.
‘Waitrose is like my family. My friends are there,’ he added.
‘I was there for 17 years, I must have been doing something right. I’m not a bad or violent or aggressive person. I just got frustrated seeing this day in and day out and not seeing Waitrose do much about it.’
Businesses have been plagued by shoplifting in recent years.
Figures hit a 20-year high last year, with 530,643 reported shoplifting offences recorded in the year to March 2025.
However, campaigners have warned that the number of thefts is considerably higher due to underreporting.
Data from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) suggests that as many as 5.8million incidents of shoplifting were recorded in the last year.
Marks & Spencer’s chief executive Stuart Machin said the government and mayor of London needed to crack down on retail crime, arguing it had become ‘more brazen, more organised and more aggressive’.
The retail trade union Usdaw also warned that workers faced ‘unacceptable’ levels of violence linked to shop thefts.
What has Waitrose said?
A Waitrose spokesperson said of the Guardian’s report: ‘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.
‘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.’
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