A woman claims being mistaken for a shoplifter and questioned in a windowless room at Marks and Spencer left her so traumatised she is still unable to leave the house 20 months later.
Pearly Kanagaratnam says she is being treated for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder …I...
I just...
The 52-year-old, who broke off several times in tears whilst recounting the ordeal, said: "It has totally affected my life. I can’t go out by myself now.
"When I'm out, I feel really emotional.
"I'm trying to go out more to get over it but it’s really hard. I can’t go in that store now or any stores really."Oh, well, it's Internet shopping for you then, I guess?
She explained: "I had the receipt with me for the trousers I’d returned so I wasn't worried, but then they took me into this room at the back without windows.Oh, not the
The Sri Lankan self-employed hospitality worker (Ed: Hmmm...) added: "I was really upset and was in tears. I couldn't understand why this was happening to me at this age when I hadn't done anything.
"At the end the operations manager came in and said they’d made a mistake because another woman wearing the same colour cardigan to me was thought to have shoplifted. "She apologised but she didn't look at my face and it didn't feel like she was really sorry."Well, that's the modern non-apology for you. You must have seen enough government ministers using it to be aware of the concept, surely?
After writing a complaint letter, she was invited back to the store and offered £400 in vouchers but she refused to accept them.Wow! Maybe she does have agoraphobia after all? Maybe if they'd posted 'em?
But no. She wants more:
Mrs Kanagaratnam is now suing Marks and Spencer for a personal injury claim and the civil case takes place next month.How unsurprising...
A Marks and Spencer spokesman said: "As legal proceedings are taking place, it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this stage."Clearly, not something that concerns the plaintiff, who feels quite free to run to the local paper to highlight her shame and suffering..
Accosted in public and held in a windowless room by a frickin' PCSO asking intrusive and completely irrelevant questions about my personal life ? If that's true then, hell yeah, I'd frickin' sue too.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wouldn't be going down the "oh poor little me" route though and suspect all this angst and dramatic presentation is on the advice of her legal counsel.
If you're going to play victim these days...and because there are just so many about... you're really going to have give an oscar-winning performance to get anywhere, at all.
What price Pride ?
Side note: What is she doing with her left hand ?
Clearly, not something that concerns the plaintiff, who feels quite free to run to the local paper to highlight her shame and suffering..
ReplyDeleteI wonder if her facebook page has been busy too, I'm sure lots of her friends would agree that £400 is nowhere near enough
I sense an "Injury Lawyers 4U" situation here, don't you?
Tatty said "Side note: What is she doing with her left hand ?"
ReplyDeleteScratching her balls? Well, she was described as a "hospitality worker" :0/
Bunny,
ReplyDeleteI like the way she describes being held in a room as an ordeal, when I was a kid one of my neighbours had been torpedoed and sunk three times on one convoy, that was an ordeal. Definitely a compensation claim here.
Google 'compensation neurosis'
ReplyDeleteI just love it when I set off alarm systems when exiting shops like PC World and HMV (of blessed memory).
ReplyDeleteI always (silently) will some goon to accost me just so I can politely thank him for his interest, but regretfully decline his kind invitation to accompany him.
I would love to know what their plan B is? To wrestle me into an interview room?
I was once challenged on my way out of Tesco. I had bought a new vacuum cleaner and it was too big to put in a bag. The security man was surprisingly abrupt but let me go once I had shown him the receipt. I was a bit annoyed.
ReplyDeleteHow much could I get?
I'd sue the fuck out of them too. Unauthorised arrest and imprisonment? £400 which can only be used at the same fucking place? Sod that.
ReplyDeleteI would not consider myself a litigious person but there are fucking limits.
So the shop should ask customers on entry if they are prone to trauma, stress, depression, opportunism, etc?
ReplyDeleteA better solution is for only judges to summon expert witnesses - when litigants do it they just hire professional whores who will say anything their clients want.
And no doubt this "self-employed hospitality worker" one or two such creatures.
I know this shop well,very close to home and they have a very good relationship with the police.
ReplyDeleteThe "windowless room" does exist.It's to stop the public looking in and the detainee being potentially embarrassed.
Not a lot of sympathy in the comments.The public has spoken!
Jaded
Unlawful inprisonment springs to mind
ReplyDeleteOh dear. The shop apologised and offered £400... I feel the court is going to be awarding something much less than this. Not only did this woman's pizza empire crash but her next money making enterprise is doomed too... doomed, I tell ya
ReplyDelete"If that's true then, hell yeah, I'd frickin' sue too."
ReplyDeleteShould have demanded the real police were called. I suspect they'd have folded.
And you can't have pride without shame. See where rubbing out shame has got us?
"I like the way she describes being held in a room as an ordeal, when I was a kid one of my neighbours had been torpedoed and sunk three times on one convoy, that was an ordeal."
Quite. Words have meaning. Who gave people like her licence to change them?
"I always (silently) will some goon to accost me just so I can politely thank him for his interest, but regretfully decline his kind invitation to accompany him."
In my experience, they just ignore it!
"How much could I get?"
Well, you'll have to embellish it a LOT!
"The "windowless room" does exist.It's to stop the public looking in and the detainee being potentially embarrassed."
Quite! And then she goes and blabs all about it to the press...
"I feel the court is going to be awarding something much less than this."
Let's hope so!
XX self-employed hospitality worker XX
ReplyDeleteSo THATS what they call it nowdays is it?