Tesco Clubcard leads to man with 'stolen' debit card

The incident happened in Burnham High Street earlier this year after Geoff Lawrence, the owner of the debit card, noticed his wallet had disappeared outside the RSCPA store.

He quickly contacted his bank who informed him the debit card had just been used inside the Tesco supermarket which provided a receipt of the lager bought connected to the culprit’s clubcard.

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A manager from the store recognised the culprit and claimed he was a one of their ‘regulars’.

Mr Lawrence, 71, from Ascot said: “Whether he pickpocketed me or just found my wallet is besides the point but using his Tesco Clubcard with my debit card, with a £100 contactless limit to buy a few beers, makes me think of the old saying ‘thick as thieves’.

“Not that it makes me feel sorry for him though. Tesco Clubcard points are not worth much anymore anyway.”

Thames Valley Police were contacted by Mr Lawrence who gave the case to their force’s 'Smarter Resolution' team, tasked with solving low level crimes.

A PCSO was initially unable to obtain CCTV footage from Tesco so Mr Lawrence took matters into his own hands.

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He said: “The police were slack. A PCSO being fobbed off when Tesco staff said the culprit was one of their reliable regulars - it is pathetic.

“I got hold of a senior manager at Tesco, she was helpful and got the CCTV footage.”

This was handed to officers who then requested a letter of apology for Mr Lawrence from the culprit, who claimed the incident was a ‘genuine mistake’.

“The police smart resolution isn’t smart but soft and silly,” said Mr Lawrence. “They were conned if they believe the culprit’s story that it was ‘genuine mistake’.

The receipt obtained by Mr Lawrence (Image: Newsquest)

“They should’ve taken him to court, made an example of him, especially as people in Burnham High Street are sick of the thieving there.

“It’s not as if we’re in some foreign state where they’d chop his hand off.”

The retired business consultant received the apology letter from the culprit who claimed he found the wallet in nearby Budgens and handed it in there but only after mistakenly using Mr Lawrence’s card in Tesco to buy the 12 bottles of beer.

The apology letter read: “Dear Mr Lawrence, I found your wallet in Burnham and I handed it into Budgens, however I did use your card in Tesco and for that I truly apologise.

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“It was a mistake and I am sorry for the inconvenience and distress this may have caused you.”

Mr Lawrence said he ‘appreciates that the man made a fool of himself’ but says the ‘lack of justice will have ramifications on crime levels’.

He added: “People in Burnham knowing the Police have been conned by the culprit, gives the wrong message.

“The officer assigned to the case, spent too much time on the phone and sending long emails to me over ethical issues.

“The woke police shouldn’t be acting as god, judge and jury, but maybe they’re powerless to act now and all this stuff is all driven by the top-end lefty liberal judiciary.

“And no, I don’t have a sense of victimhood – I’ve better things to think about, but the fact remains that although the culprit made an idiot of himself, he invaded my privacy and took something he knew wasn’t his. By my standards that’s theft and the police treated him too leniently.

“Burnham High Street has been plagued by crime for years. By default, the police are even enabling crime then, if people like the culprit can now boast about getting away with it.

The Tesco store in Burnham. Picture by Google Maps (Image: Google)

“The police are public servants, and I’m a member of the public. They are meant to serve us but where is our service in this?”

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said the incident was investigated by officers who determined that a 'community resolution' was an appropriate outcome.

The force described Community Resolutions as out-of-court disposals designed to give victims of low-level crime a desired outcome, while allowing an offender to make recompense for their actions that is proportionate to the offence.

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The spokesperson said: “At around 6.15pm on February 20, we received reports of a theft of a wallet on Burnham High Street.

“Officers investigated the incident, and the wallet was returned to the victim, after it was handed in to a local shop.

“A community resolution was identified as an appropriate outcome.”

Mr Lawrence concluded: “Well we all need a laugh these days – as they say in Tesco – ‘Every little helps’.”