Tesco 'humiliated' innocent man after staff 'shouted at him' and made him pay twice for £75 groceries

As he left the store, he was stopped by staff who claimed he hadn't paid, despite having evidence of the transaction on his banking app.

Kennedy initially cooperated when approached "quietly and discreetly" by a staff member who asked him to return to the store.

He showed his banking app as evidence of payment to the first assistant, who apologised and called for a supervisor.

The situation escalated when a second assistant arrived and, according to Kennedy, "shouted across the self-checkouts, 'This guy hasn't paid for his groceries'."

The supervisor then made a troubling insinuation, telling colleagues: "You need to watch out for this... quite often they do two identical shops, pay for one then use the payment to avoid paying for the second."

Despite showing his payment proof three times, Kennedy was told it was "a pending transaction" that "won't go through."

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When he reluctantly agreed to pay again, NatWest blocked his card, suspecting duplicate transactions.

Staff then demanded he pay another way, prompting an angry Kennedy to abandon his shopping and leave.

Kennedy later discovered the original payment had indeed been processed, just as he had insisted.

When he called the store to request a refund, staff demanded he provide evidence that he hadn't taken the groceries.

They also insisted he would need to visit the store in person with his card – a journey Kennedy noted would require a "120 mile round trip and three hours of my time" from his home in Kent.

Frustrated by the situation, Kennedy took to social media platform X on April 23, detailing his experience in a lengthy post.

His complaint quickly gained traction, amassing 1.3 million views within hours.

By 7.30pm that same evening, Tesco's CEO's office had emailed Kennedy with "a proper apology, not one of those 'we are sorry if you were offended' apologies!"

The supermarket agreed to refund his payment, make a donation to Young Minds charity, and send him a gift card.

A regional manager also promised to call with a personal apology.

In a follow-up social media post, Kennedy explained his motivation for challenging the supermarket giant.

"Whenever something like this happens, I ask myself how I would feel if it happened to my mum," he wrote.

He described his late mother as being "of a generation who were deferential to authority" who would have accepted what she was told.

"I fight petty authority like this for thousands like her and for those who don't have a voice," Kennedy stated.

A Tesco spokesman said: “Unfortunately, a fault with a scan as you shop handset at our West Moseley Superstore meant that it incorrectly indicated that Mr Kennedy’s payment had not been completed.

"We are really sorry that this happened and have reached out to Mr Kennedy to apologise for how the matter was handled as it fell below the high standards that we would expect.”