Falsely accused

By Tania Martin
A PAKENHAM woman is calling
for compensation after she was falsely
accused of shoplifting at a Woolworths
store.
Pam Slade, 51, says the incident left
her traumatised and she fears return
ing to the store.
The incident happened shortly
after 4.10pm on Tuesday 30 April at the
Woolworths store at Mountain Gate
Shopping Centre in Ferntree Gully.
Ms Slade and her husband, Ted, 68,
had gone into the shopping centre to
pick up a few items after work.
They were finishing up their pur
chase when the man serving them
asked if they wanted a bag or to use
their own.
Ms Slade agreed to put the goods in
her bag but said the Woolworths
employee then snatched her bag from
her arm.
They claim the employee then
opened the bag, pulled out Ms Slade’s
glucosamine tablets and scanned
them.
Mr Slade was outraged for his wife
and questioned what the server was
doing.
“He said it was obvious we pinched
them off the shelf because Wool
worths sold them too,” he said.
Defending his wife, Mr Slade told
the man they were her personal
tablets.
“We were not paying for the tablets
and got the hell out of there and report
ed it to the police,” he said.
Ms Slade said she was mortified by
the whole incident.
She takes the tablets for a back
injury and carries them everywhere
she goes.
“He (the employee) made such a
commotion about it … I just feel so
humiliated, to be accused of stealing
something and the bottle was half
empty and the seal was broken,” Ms
Slade said.
“You would never get past the
buzzers and would be pretty silly to
think you could get away with that sort
of thing.”
Although Woolworths has apolo
gised, the couple are calling for com
pensation.
“They think they can just sweep it
under the rug,” Mr Slade said.
Ms Slade now avoids the store and
walks an extra 15 minutes out of her
way to shop at Coles.
“I won’t go in there … it feels like
they are pointing the finger at me,” Ms
Slade said.
Ms Slade also fears she would be
targeted again.
But Woolworths has apologised for
the incident, saying the staff member
had overstepped the mark.
Spokesman Benedict Brook said
the employee should never have han
dled the customer’s bag.
“This was an error of judgement by
the staff member and he has received
re-training in this area,” he said.
All staff at the Mountain Gate store
have now been reminded of the correct
way to apply Woolworths bag checking
policy.
“We have taken the opportunity to
apologies to the family and hope to wel
come them back to Woolworths stores
in the future,” Mr Brook said.