There are some magical experiences to tell you about yet (yes, they of course involve the Outer Hebrides) but I interrupt the timeline to recount a distressing tale that happened to me yesterday.
In fact, what I will do is simply copy for you the letter that I emailed to Tesco this morning. I have wasted so much energy and lost so much productivity over this... but hopefully things will improve soon. Happy reading, and I'll leave it to you to decide where you are going to spend your grocery money after this:
I am writing to you having been humiliated and evicted from your
Eastbourne Store.
As a busy journalist, and in order to cut unnecessary CO2 emissions, I
combine journeys wherever I can in order to maximise my time, and to maximise
use of the car.
Currently I am working on a commission to produce an inspirational
feature about Brighton, which involves me staying at nearby places in order to
competently review the campsite options for readers.
On Tuesday 17th July, my route took me through Eastbourne. I
decided to pay a visit to your store en route in order to stock up on many
items. As I had my Airstream travel trailer in tow, I naturally took the
quietest, most remote area of the car park in order not to inconvenience
anybody. I also chose my time wisely – it was midday on a Tuesday, not a busy
period.
In addition to not wishing to waste any productive time, I was also
making haste as road closures in Eastbourne were imminent for the Olympic
Torch, and I wanted to be sure of being away from the town before these took
effect.
As I was paying for my £70 worth of groceries at 12.55pm, a call was put
out over the store’s PA system paging me as the owner of my vehicle.
After wasting a few minutes queuing at Customer Services, the lady
behind the desk said that she knew not why I had been called, and I should go
and see the gentleman at the security podium.
I approached the gentleman with my trolley full of paid-for shopping in
its bags, and asked if he had called me. His reply, in a most abrupt manner,
was:
‘Yes. I must ask you to leave. You are parked on private property.’
I was taken aback as you can imagine. I asked why I was being asked to
leave and why no other shopper was being asked to leave.
‘You are taking up too many
parking spaces. And you are blocking the recycling area’ he replied in a most
surly tone.
I pointed out that I was certainly not blocking the recycling area, and
that I had deliberately chosen a quiet area in the car park so as to not
inconvenience other customers.
Rather incredulously, the security guard then asked why I was parked
there.
I gesticulated at the trolley full of purchases and said, trying
desperately not to sound ironic, that I was visiting Tesco to do my shopping.
‘Well, we’ve had problems with caravans before. They say that they are
here to do their shopping but they just stay all day causing us problems.’
By now I realised that I was getting nowhere in this ridiculous
conversation and asked to see the store manager. The security guard wandered
off, and came back about a minute later to tell me that the store manager was
on a conference call for the next 30 minutes, and I would have to wait if I
wished to see him. There was no offer of seeing any deputy or supervisor. I was not prepared to waste a further
thirty minutes of my time waiting to see the store manager who was obviously
too busy running his store to speak with the customers for whom it actually
operates. I also needed to be away before the road closures mentioned
previously came into place.
As you may well imagine, by now I was absolutely seething with anger and
frustration. I informed the security guard that I am a journalist who is (in
the main) highly thought of by the majority of the UK’s one million plus caravanners,
and that I would be taking this matter further.
‘Yeah, do that,’ he taunted in a mocking tone as I left the store.
Throughout the exchange, a silent colleague of his stood looking on, smirking
with his arms folded.
I completely understand that a modern supermarket needs to ensure that
parking rules are respected in order to make spaces available for its
customers. This is why I chose a quiet time to visit. I did not want to make a
25 mile round trip to do my shopping after having sited the Airstream when
plenty of parking space was available.
I also understand that itinerant travellers (as opposed to the millions
of leisure caravanners) may have caused problems in the past and as such you
would like to be sure that any visitors are there for genuine reasons. If your
staff did have cause for concern, then surely the fact that I had a trolley
full of purchases a mere 55 minutes after arriving should have been reassuring
enough. I don’t have a problem with being called in order to allay any concerns
of the staff. Were I dealt with in a friendly and respectful manner, I would
have very quickly assured your staff that I understood their concerns, I was
indeed a genuine customer, and I would be away within the following ten minutes.
As for ‘Having had trouble with caravans’ in the past, the security
guard was referring to overstaying the permitted time. As I have already
mentioned, I had only been there for 55 minutes. Yet I was treated with
contempt as if I had already committed some kind of breach of regulations or
decency.
If the profile of the average shoplifter is a white 23 year old male,
would Tesco then treat all white 23 year old male shoppers as criminals?
This incident has left me incensed. In order to write and therefore make
a living, I need a clear and creative mind. So far I have lost over a day’s
productivity at a personal cost of £250 as I am so upset and angry about what has
happened, not to mention the utter humiliation at the way I was treated. Now I
am spending my time writing you this missive while I should be writing
revenue-earning copy.
Naturally, I will no longer patronise your stores of any brand. I have
deleted the Clubcard and Tesco Finder apps from my iPhone and I am making steps
to change network provider away from Tesco Mobile.
What disappoints me even more is that I have on more than one occasion
in touring media extolled the virtues of stopping off at supermarkets during
quiet periods as an alternative to overpriced service areas, in order to take
advantage of the café and fuel stations offered.
If Tesco does not want the business of the UK’s caravanners and motor
caravanners, do please let me know. I will then communicate this to the one
million members of the Caravan Club for whom I write and blog so that they may
direct their portion of the £6bn per year that caravanners contribute to the UK
economy accordingly.
Here is an image of the ‘offending’ rig in the car park. I am sure that
your own CCTV footage will satisfy you that the rig has not been moved for the
photograph, and that this image has not been manipulated in any way.
