A 61-year-old Aldi shopper was left "humiliated" after staff asked to search her shopping bags during a routine visit to the budget chain's Brighton store.
Karen Sharman says she was "singled out" when her trip on March 26, when she recounted the moment when a cashier demanded to look in her bag as she prepared to pay.
Aldi's bag search policy - which was first introduced in selected UK stores in 2023 in a bid to tackle shoplifting - requires selected customers to put their bags on the conveyor belt with their shopping to prove they are empty.
Sharman, who works as a cabaret performer under the stage name Dolly Rocket, demanded to speak to the manager and started filming the confrontation covertly on her phone.
The video of the incident has since gone viral
In the video, which has since gone viral with over 650,000 views across social media, Sharman says: "I'm in Aldi today, and I'm told I have to show what's in my bag.
"I'm going to call the police, quite frankly. There's no proof I've been shoplifting."
Under Aldi's policy, customers must consent to these searches, or they could be refused service.
But not all staff are comfortable implementing it, with one employee writing on an Aldi Facebook group: "It's an awful feeling having to ask customers."
Sharman told the Daily Mail she felt "embarrassed and intimidated" during the incident.
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"I had nothing from Aldi in my bag," she insisted. "But I was being treated like a criminal for no reason."
Sharman, a middle-aged LGBT woman of colour, said that it was a "violation of civil liberties".
"I didn't see anyone else's bags being searched - just mine. Why me?" she questioned. "Why should a shop assistant have the right to rummage through my personal property? It's outrageous."
Londoner Mark Cob Webb has also recently taken to Facebook to complain about similar experiences at his local Aldi, claiming that cashiers "pick and choose" who to search, making the policy feel "discriminatory".
"The customers that are bringing these businesses their profits and paying their wages are now having to do the security's job," he wrote, adding that the policy makes shoppers feel "a bit of a thief" and as if "you can't be trusted to do your own shopping".
The disgruntled customer declared she 'won't shop at Aldi again' after her 'embarrassing and intimidating' incidentFacebookAfter she abandoned her shopping at the Aldi store, Sharman declared she "won't shop at Aldi again", saying: "I'm going to Sainsbury's now - that's where I'm going!"
The disgruntled customer has since made a formal complaint to Aldi's customer services.
An Aldi spokesman said: "Like other retailers, we ask to carry out routine bag checks with the customer's permission.
"We are sorry our request was upsetting to Ms Sharman and will take her feedback on board."
The supermarket chain has not indicated whether it plans to review its bag search policy following the complaint.
