Woman accused of stealing ‘because she’s black’ while shopping in M&S

The M&S store at Purley Way, Croydon where Sarah Destiny claims she was ‘racially profiled’ by staff (Picture: Google maps)

A woman said ‘someone was about to get slapped’ after she was ‘racially profiled’ and accused of stealing in M&S.

Sarah Destiny didn’t think much of it when a staff member was watching while she scanned and paid for her shopping at the Purley Way, Croydon, branch of M&S.

But her day got suddenly worse when she spotted the same staff member chasing her as she walked to her car on Wednesday.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Sarah said: ‘She then accused me of only scanning one item worth £3.50 for my entire food shop.

‘An item that wasn’t even in my shopping bag.

‘I repeatedly told her the receipt wasn’t mine as 1) I didn’t print a receipt & 2) the item on the receipt wasn’t part of my shopping.

‘Still, like an idiot, she insisted that I stole my shopping & needed to come back into the store.

‘By now, my blood was boiling.’

A security guard intervened, initially asking Sarah to return to the shop before she pointed out a discrepancy on the receipt the staff member was waving around as evidence.

The staff member allegedly told Sarah that they ‘saw it print after [she] had left’.

But the time stamp was 8:05 when it was already 8:52 by the time Sarah was leaving the shop, Sarah said.

This was enough to satisfy the guard, who wished Sarah a ‘lovely evening’.

But the ‘irritated’ staff member simply stayed ‘mute’, according to the posts on X.

Sarah told her ‘she’s disgusting for assuming that the shopping I paid for was stolen’.

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Her posts on X continued: ‘To be subject to racial profiling in THIS day and age for simply doing a food shop is absolutely ridiculous.

‘Had I not been quick on my feet both to respond & use common sense, that lady would have continued to accuse me of being a thief. Absolutely disgusting.

‘I’m actually very shaken up by this. I literally work hard to make MY money & even then, to now spend it is seen as a crime.

‘What? because I’m black you assumed I stole ??

‘She literally tried to embarrass me. It’s not okay. I’m not okay with this at all. Never going there again.’

An M&S spokesperson told Metro.co.uk that the accusation of theft was an ‘honest mistake’ and ‘nothing more’.

They said: ‘This was an honest mistake by a colleague who mixed up the till Ms Destiny was scanning her shopping at and the adjacent vacant till where she was using the space to pack her shopping.

The supermarket chain has apologised for the incident (Picture: Getty Images)

‘It was 100% our mistake and we are very sorry.

‘We are contacting Ms Destiny to apologise directly and try to make amends.

‘Please be reassured that there was nothing more to it than this, but we completely understand how it made Ms Destiny feel and again we’re very sorry for the distress we caused.’

When asked if this ‘mistake’ would have happened if Sarah was white, the spokesperson did not respond.

Sarah later took to X after speaking with a representative of the company on Thursday, confirming she had been offered a voucher in apology.

However, she shared concern about the explanation offered for the M&S store employee’s actions.

In particular, Sarah rejected the claim of confusion over which till she was using as false.

She said: ‘I’ve spoken with M&S and was told that they ran a full investigation into the store. They have accepted FULL responsibility.’

The post continued: ‘I was offered a voucher but due to the trauma caused, outright embarrassment & especially as I don’t think I can even bring myself to go to M&S anymore, I will be taking this up further.’

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