'˜Lidl treated me like a criminal over faulty £2 torch'

Stephen Windsor was threatened with a call to the police after he had a disagreement with staff at a Lidl store.

The 41-year-old was visiting the Gosport supermarket, on Forton Road, when staff threatened to call the police after a row over a broken torch.

He said: ‘They made me feel like a criminal and banned me from the store.

‘I just wanted my £2 back but they treated me like I was dangerous by saying they would call the police.

‘They even had three members of staff stood guarding the front entrance so I couldn’t return.’

The argument happened after Mr Windsor, from Gosport, bought a torch from the store last Wednesday evening.

On his way out of the shop, he threw the receipt in a bin outside the entrance and tried the torch. But it was broken.

He added: ‘I tried to get my receipt out of the bin but couldn’t reach it.

‘I went back inside to the same cashier and explained what had happened. Where I had just bought the torch, she remembered me but said I needed the receipt.’

Mr Windsor spoke to a manager and asked for them to get the bin bag out of the bin so he could retrieve his receipt but they refused.

‘By this point, I was angry and upset because it was so petty of the manager,’ he said.

‘I went outside, ripped the bin bag from the bin and took it into the store. That is when I was told to leave and threatened with a call to the police.

‘I couldn’t believe they were making such a big deal out of £2. I know it was only £2 but they didn’t need to threaten me with the police. That is what made me angry the most.

‘I asked them nicely but they didn’t care – it has made me lose faith in humanity really.’

A spokeswoman for Lidl said Mr Windsor has since been refunded.

She said: ‘We are disappointed to hear that one of our customers purchased an item that was broken.

‘We take great pride in selling high-quality products at competitive prices and would like to assure them that this does not meet the exacting high standards we set.’