Grocer accused of hypocrisy

Tesco has defended itself against accusations of hypocrisy after a security guard told a six-year-old boy to remove his hooded top that had been bought in the supermarket.

A spokesman for the store in Braintree, Essex told the Evening Standard newspaper that the store had experienced ‘a real problem with hooded youth shoplifting in the area’.

Although the store has apologised and admitted that the boy should not have been approached, it said that it would continue asking older children to remove hoodies.

The boy’s mother said: ‘We were doing the weekly shop and Liam was in the same isle about 10 feet away. The security guard went up and tapped him on the shoulder and signalled for him to take his hood off. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.’

She accused the supermarket of being ‘hypocritical’, adding: ‘I think Tesco has gone too far. Are they going to start asking really young children to start removing hoods? How far is this going to go?’

The trend for banning hoodies began in May last year when Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent banned the wearing of hooded tops and baseball caps in an attempt to curb antisocial behaviour.