{"id":43866,"date":"2026-04-07T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=43866"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:01:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:01:00","slug":"iceland-offers-job-to-waitrose-worker-sacked-for-tackling-shoplifter-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=43866","title":{"rendered":"Iceland offers job to Waitrose worker sacked for tackling shoplifter | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

The boss of Iceland has offered a job to the man who says he was sacked from Waitrose for tackling a shoplifter.<\/p>\n

Walker Smith, who had been with the supermarket for 17 years, was dismissed two days after getting into a brief struggle with the thief, who was trying to steal Easter eggs.<\/p>\n

He told the Guardian he was reprimanded by his manager and apologised, but the issue was escalated, and he lost his job at the shop in Clapham, south London.<\/p>\n

Posting next to an article on the story on LinkedIn, Lord Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland and the government’s cost-of-living champion, posted: “You’re welcome to a job with us. We even share the same name\u2026”<\/p>\n

It’s not known if Mr Smith has responded to the offer.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Walker\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Walker Smith lost his job at Waitrose. Pic: Facebook
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Lord Walker also suggested in an interview last week that security guards should carry truncheons and pepper spray to deal with the violence they encounter.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives have urged Waitrose<\/a><\/strong> to reinstate Mr Smith, but the firm said in a statement he had broken rules designed to protect staff from a “serious danger to life”.<\/p>\n

“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,” it said.<\/p>\n

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp wrote to the company’s boss<\/a><\/strong> on Monday and said the sacking sent “entirely the wrong message” and “penalises those who act”.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Lord\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Lord Walker says the sacked worker is welcome to work for Iceland. File pic: PA
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Marks & Spencer has also called for tougher action on shoplifting – with some stores now forced to security tag items such as chocolate, butter and meat – and staff increasingly facing violence.<\/p>\n

Retail director Thinus Keeve warned retail crime was getting “more brazen, more organised and more aggressive”<\/a><\/strong> in a letter criticising the government and London mayor Sadiq Khan.<\/p>\n

M&S chief executive Stuart Machin also wrote to the home secretary following recent antisocial behaviour in Clapham<\/a><\/strong> that saw crowds of young people trying to storm shops.<\/p>\n

The Office for National Statistics said last year that more than half a million shoplifting offences had been recorded<\/a><\/strong> by police in England and Wales for the first time.<\/p>\n

Countless more are believed to go unreported as retailers often say it’s not worth reporting due to perceived lack of action by police and weak punishments.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The boss of Iceland has offered a job to the man who says he was sacked from Waitrose for tackling a shoplifter. Walker Smith, who had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}