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Waitrose is under growing pressure to reinstate an employee of 17 years who was sacked after tackling a shoplifter who was trying to steal Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs.
The retailer has faced public outcry over its treatment of Walker Smith, who was fired two days after he stopped the shoplifter taking items from the Easter egg display.
After Smith told the Guardian he had lost his job after the incident, a fundraiser was launched on his behalf and has since raised more than £4,000, with the organiser claiming he had “simply tried to do the right and noble thing”.
On Sunday, Smith explained that a customer alerted him to someone filling a bag with Lindt chocolate eggs.
The 54-year-old, who worked in the Clapham Junction branch in south London, said the shoplifter was a repeat offender. He said he “grabbed the bag”, but the shoplifter snatched it back. A brief struggle followed, before the bag snapped and the items fell to the floor.
Smith said one of the bunnies broke into pieces and he picked a piece and “threw it out of frustration” towards some shopping trolleys, insisting he had not aimed at the shoplifter as they fled.
Smith said he apologised to his manager for his role in the incident, having previously been instructed not to approach suspected shoplifters.
“I’ve been there 17 years,” said Smith. “I’ve seen it happen every hour of every day for the last five years. It’s everybody from drug addicts to teenagers nicking bits and bobs or walking out with bottles of wine in their arms. We’re not allowed to do anything.”
The matter was escalated and he was fired.
On Monday, politicians and commentators joined a chorus of those calling for Waitrose to rethink its decision.
The broadcaster Iain Dale said on his LBC radio show: “I have a bit of skin in this game because I used to own a bookshop and I had a few shoplifters.
“If any member of my staff had tackled a shoplifter like he [Smith] did, I would have wanted to give them a pay rise, not sack them.
“But this is the sort of ridiculous thing we have now where shops order their employees not to tackle shoplifters … what are Waitrose thinking? This man had worked for them for 17 years. To me he’s a hero, but to them he’s just nothing.”
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, called on Waitrose to reinstate Smith, accusing the supermarket of acting “disgracefully”.
In a letter to Waitrose’s managing director, Tom Denyard, posted on social media, Philp called for Smith to be paid a bonus “for his bravery and initiative”.
He said: “Staff safety must come first. But dismissing a long-serving employee in these circumstances sends entirely the wrong message. It penalises those who act, while offenders are left unchecked.
“Of course, the police and this failing government must do more to tackle shoplifting. But store staff and the public should be supported and encouraged to intervene as well. Otherwise, shoplifting will continue to surge unchecked.”
The incident comes amid a rise in shoplifting, with offences increasing 5% in the year to September 2025, according to the latest figures.
Waitrose said: “The safety and security of our partners and customers couldn’t be more important to us, and we have policies in place to protect both.
“We’ve had incidents where our partners have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters. Luckily, they have always recovered, but that might not always be the case.
“There is a serious danger to life in tackling shoplifters. 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.
“As a responsible employer, we never want to be in a position where we are notifying families of a tragedy because someone tried to stop a theft. Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for.
“We have campaigned for some time for more to be done to protect shop workers from offenders, including retail crime being made into a specific standalone offence.”
