Sainsbury’s worker of 20 years sacked for taking ‘bags for life’ without paying

Niamke Doffou selected the ‘zero bags used’ option on the self-service checkout as he packed up his £30 shop.

A Sainsbury’s worker was sacked after almost 20 years at the supermarket for taking ‘bags for life’ without paying after a night shift.

Niamke Doffou selected the ‘zero bags used’ option on the self-service checkout as he packed up his £30 shop, an employment tribunal heard.

He was later hauled in front of bosses and dismissed after they watched CCTV of the incident and concluded he could no longer be trusted.

Mr Doffou, a native French speaker who has lived and worked in the UK for nearly two decades, claimed he was ‘tired and unaware of what he was doing’.

But his claim of unfair dismissal was thrown out by a judge who said it was ‘very hard to argue’ with the decision to dismiss after the theft of the bags which are sold to customers for either 30p or 65p.

The tribunal was told Mr Doffou worked as a night shift assistant at the Romford Sainsbury’s Superstore in East London from June 2003 until he was fired in October 2022 for gross misconduct.

During the August bank holiday in 2022, he did some personal shopping in the early morning after working a night shift.

He bought £30 worth of food, pillows and bedding but CCTV footage showed he didn’t pay for the ‘multiple reusable bags for life’ that he took to put his shopping in at the self-service checkout.

The tribunal was told he made ‘more than one’ trip to get bags, despite selecting ‘zero bags used’ option on the screen and checking his receipt at the end of his shopping.

Giving evidence, Mr Doffou accepted Sainsbury’s had a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to theft – but insisted he was ‘tired’ and ‘unaware of what he was doing’ when he took them without paying for them.

In September 2022, he was invited to attend a disciplinary investigation meeting, where the CCTV was played to him.

At a disciplinary hearing the following month, he was dismissed for gross misconduct.

Bosses found he had ‘not acted in error’ and although perhaps ‘absent-mindedly’, had been ‘dishonest and deliberately not paid for the bags’.

The East London hearing was told: ‘[The disciplinary chair] formed the view that he had deliberately selected the zero bags option on the self-checkout knowing full well he would need some to put his bulky shopping in.

‘This in turn she concluded meant that [Sainsbury’s] could no longer have trust in [Mr Doffou] as an employee even if the bags did not cost as much as his shopping had.’

He appealed this decision, but this was dismissed.

Employment Judge Eleena Misra K.C said: ‘Having considered all of the evidence before me I concluded that the claim for unfair dismissal is not well founded and is therefore dismissed.

‘The CCTV footage and receipt clearly proved to [Sainsbury’s] that [Mr Doffou] took bags for life without paying for them.

‘[Sainsbury’s] carried out a reasonable and proportionate investigation into the alleged conduct and he was given a full opportunity to respond.

‘[Mr Doffou]’s explanations were not deemed to be credible explanations and [Sainsbury’s] was entitled on the evidence to conclude that he had committed misconduct notwithstanding the low value of the bags taken.

‘Once the decision maker had concluded that he had acted dishonestly and committed theft, it is very hard to argue that the decision to dismiss fell outside a reasonable band of responses.

‘I find that it was within such a band.’

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