Boots high street store CCTV incident/s

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Soldato
Joined
27 Jul 2005
Posts
13,122
Location
The Orion Spur
Couple of times I've been to Boots recently to grab some toiletries, on both occasions I heard quite a loud speaker announcing "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", I, as well as a few people in the shop were looking around a bit bemused, I assumed that maybe it was a security CB that had been left on by accident on loud or something, week later I pop in Boots again to grab some mouthwash, again I hear the announcement "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", "This can be used as evidence against you in court", now this time I was suspicious as staff members were starting to follow me around the store and standing either end of the isle I was in, felt very uncomfortable, I was looking for a cheap antibacterial mouthwash reading the ingredients on a few of them, eventually I just went to the counter and asked if the Boots branded version was as good as the Corsodyl one, she was very offish with me and I had staff lingering right by me, I purchase the mouthwash, leave the store pretty annoyed but tried to shrug it off.

Couple of weeks later (Today), I'm walking through the town with my mum, she says "I'm popping into Boots are you coming?" I joke and say "you remember what happened last time!", but I think what the hell, lets see if it is happens again and my mum could actually witness it, now I honestly didn't expect anything to happen, but by the time I'd walked halfway into the store yet again an announcement over the store tannoy speaker "Alert", "This is CCTV", "We are recording you live", I say to my mum "Look I think I've triggered the CCTV security system again, she was quite surprised, then we had members of staff gathering either end the isle watching us/me.

This is the amazing thing, suddenly an announcement on the speaker said "this is a message to the man wearing a grey backpack and a black cap, we are recording you live, this can be used as evidence against you", so a personalised message direct to me!, now other customers in the store are all looking over to me wondering what the hell is going on, one chap near me looks like he is about to grab hold of my arm to be some kind of have-ago-hero, my mum is starting to get very worried at this point, she said we should speak to the manager, I asked at the checkout if we could speak to the manger and while waiting the tannoy speaker says "Please leave the store now", "Please leave the store now", me and my mum at this time was waiting by were you pick up prescriptions, I say the the pharmacist "what the hell is going on this is ridulcus?" he doesn't want speak at all and runs into the back, me and my mum look at eachother an question whether we should leave, at this point the manager comes out and mum starts asking what is going on, the manager explains that this is a new system rolled out to all the stores across the UK for the staffs protection, she was being quite defensive about it, I was questioning her saying that surely you can't call out customers live over the tannoy in such a manner but she seemed to think it was reasonable, she said "the system gets triggered all the time", to which I replied so are these people that trigger the system all the time all thieves? which she didn't answer.

Anyway, I left the store completely fuming, after a bit googling it seems a while back Boots moved over to a centralised manned security system, all the Boots stores are now monitored remotely from one building with security staff that can access stores speakers systems and talk directly to 'suspected' criminals in store, what do you guys think of a system like this? I honestly felt like it was something out of George orwell's 1984, was really surreal.

I'm sure people are going to ask what I was wearing, regular jeans, walking shoes, Trespass walking jacket, and a winter lined cap.
 
Last edited:
Did you have a backpack in each instance? this can make some stores twitchy - I've seen security escort people out and insist they leave their backpacks outside before in Tescos.
 
Going back many years one of my neighbours was fairly high up in regional Boots security IIRC arranging/auditing & training staff at some of their larger stores* and she used to say that the staff had to be extremely careful with what they said or did to anyone because the liability on the store from anything that could be seen as a false accusation was high if the person wished to pursue it. Basically they could not say or do anything unless they had witnessed a crime which included not doing anything until the suspect was at the exit as there was no crime committed until someone left in regards to shoplifting, and that they had to keep eyes on the person that whole time in case they had put something down (IE the classic picking something up, then deciding not to buy it and leaving it on a shelf at the other end of the store).
This sounds very much like they're giving highly identifiable information out to the general public about someone who has not actually done anything, and thus on potentially dubious legal ground given the tone and implications but i'm no lawyer.

Unless you were doing something suspicious I'd be thinking of making an official complaint, especially if they're refusing to say anything about why they appear to be targeting you, and if you wanted to make a bit of a fuss invite a couple of local reporters to visit the store with you. You might also be able to ask for a copy of all information they have on you under GDPR and copies of any and all CCTV footage they have of you (there should be a notice about who to contact near the entrance).

My sister had something similar happen a long time ago when she was around 19 with her kid, she realised she kept seeing the same staff "discretely" following her around one of the local supermarkets every time she went in, she asked one of her friends who worked at another branch for advice and IIRC made an official complaint and got an apology.

Having said all that, I went into my local boots store for the first time in a while a couple of weeks back and it was depressing, it felt pretty much like Woolworths did in it's dying days, very poorly staffed the main tills were closed (and probably had been for a while***), meaning the only open till was on the beauty counter (with no one actually there, but restocking shelves a bit away) and the pharmacy counter, with half the store lighting off. It basically felt like they were about to start a closing down sale.

Rroff said:
Did you have a backpack in each instance? this can make some stores twitchy - I've seen security escort people out and insist they leave their backpacks outside before in Tescos.
Click to expand...
I remember when Toys R Us had that policy but IIRC they were all out of town so presumed you had a car, and for those that didn't I believe they had lockers/sort of a coat check as part of the entryway.
I can't see how that's a feasible policy in say a town centre store or one that you can walk/bike to given you're likely to be carrying bags around with you unless you return to the car every time you come out of a shop (and a carrier bag/reusable bag is a lot easier to slop something into than a bag on your back), I know my local tescos have nowhere you can store a bag if you've ridden over on a bike as they've got no lockers.

*IIRC one of her jobs was to try and work out blind spots in their (at the time quite primitive**) CCTV systems and how to rearrange both the cameras and shelves to minimise blind spots, as well as doing things like "internal loss prevention".

**Anyone remember the old rotating Camera balls?

***Given they'd got one set of doors shut with the shutters down, and I've noticed those shutters down for months.
 
Last edited:
I watched a video on this a few days back. If that happened to me then yeah I'd have a word with the manager and tell them to stick their poxy store. I don't really shop in boots but if tesco did this I'd be miffed.

 
Last edited:
The really amazing thing is that this took place over three different branches of Boots!

At the very least they should be reported to the grammar police for repeatedly stating that "We are recording you live".
 
I'd start doing really stupid dancing and obviously fake shoplifting gestures.

Last time I was in a boots there were more visable security than customers, very odd feeling.

Kids steal a lot of make up.
 
Werewolf said:
Going back many years one of my neighbours was fairly high up in regional Boots security IIRC arranging/auditing & training staff at some of their larger stores* and she used to say that the staff had to be extremely careful with what they said or did to anyone because the liability on the store from anything that could be seen as a false accusation was high if the person wished to pursue it. Basically they could not say or do anything unless they had witnessed a crime which included not doing anything until the suspect was at the exit as there was no crime committed until someone left in regards to shoplifting, and that they had to keep eyes on the person that whole time in case they had put something down (IE the classic picking something up, then deciding not to buy it and leaving it on a shelf at the other end of the store).
This sounds very much like they're giving highly identifiable information out to the general public about someone who has not actually done anything, and thus on potentially dubious legal ground given the tone and implications but i'm no lawyer.

Unless you were doing something suspicious I'd be thinking of making an official complaint, especially if they're refusing to say anything about why they appear to be targeting you, and if you wanted to make a bit of a fuss invite a couple of local reporters to visit the store with you. You might also be able to ask for a copy of all information they have on you under GDPR and copies of any and all CCTV footage they have of you (there should be a notice about who to contact near the entrance).

My sister had something similar happen a long time ago when she was around 19 with her kid, she realised she kept seeing the same staff "discretely" following her around one of the local supermarkets every time she went in, she asked one of her friends who worked at another branch for advice and IIRC made an official complaint and got an apology.

Having said all that, I went into my local boots store for the first time in a while a couple of weeks back and it was depressing, it felt pretty much like Woolworths did in it's dying days, very poorly staffed the main tills were closed (and probably had been for a while***), meaning the only open till was on the beauty counter (with no one actually there, but restocking shelves a bit away) and the pharmacy counter, with half the store lighting off. It basically felt like they were about to start a closing down sale.


I remember when Toys R Us had that policy but IIRC they were all out of town so presumed you had a car, and for those that didn't I believe they had lockers/sort of a coat check as part of the entryway.
I can't see how that's a feasible policy in say a town centre store or one that you can walk/bike to given you're likely to be carrying bags around with you unless you return to the car every time you come out of a shop (and a carrier bag/reusable bag is a lot easier to slop something into than a bag on your back), I know my local tescos have nowhere you can store a bag if you've ridden over on a bike as they've got no lockers.

*IIRC one of her jobs was to try and work out blind spots in their (at the time quite primitive**) CCTV systems and how to rearrange both the cameras and shelves to minimise blind spots, as well as doing things like "internal loss prevention".

**Anyone remember the old rotating Camera balls?

***Given they'd got one set of doors shut with the shutters down, and I've noticed those shutters down for months.
Click to expand...

As above, I'd probably put in an official complaint just in case you've been mistakenly marked as a potential shoplifter.
 
Pics of OP required before we can pass judgement.

Does sound ******* mad tho. I work in CCTV and run some Town Centre systems, boots is one of the most active places for shoplifting as they have easily resalable, relatively high value, small items. The junkies absolutely target them and it must cost the company a LOT of money. Still seems crazy. Maybe you look/dress like one of the vagrants and they've got images of the local ones to keep an eye on?
 
Which store is this?

I fancy taking a relatively concealed camera and going in dressed as some vagrant and making a YouTube.
 
Last edited:
Efour said:
I'd start doing really stupid dancing and obviously fake shoplifting gestures.
Click to expand...

This. If it happened more than once, the next time I'd be wearing a stripy tshirt under my clothes, and bring a black mask and a sack marked "swag", ready to don my outfit if it happened again.

Got followed around Morrisons a couple of years ago (during covid, was putting stuff straight in my backpack - didn't fancy touching basket handles a million other people had been dribbling over). Had the security guard ask me rather aggressively & sarcastically "do you need a hand with anything?" but I think he was a bit taken aback when I held out my bag and asked him to carry it for me as it was getting a bit heavy :cry:
 
I assume shoplifting is starting to really hurt these stores now, I'd expect more stuff like this.On that note I popped into Aldi yesterday and some of the meat had security tags on, never seen that before.
 
Boots in Kingston Upon Thames - opposite what was the nightclub Bachus, 2001 fans hollah back yo! - used to have an upstairs where the optometry department was (and also, bafflingly, ladies fashion?) which is pretty neat if you think about it.

Namaste.
 
The fact that it has happened to you every time you have gone there (and I’m assuming you are not wearing the same clothes each time) sounds like they might be using facial recognition on people that enter the store and you’ve been marked for reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom