Aldi staff ‘refuse to serve customers if they don’t allow bag check’

Aldi staff have allegedly been told to refuse to serve customers if they do not allow their shopping bags to be searched.

The bargain supermarket has implemented additional security measures to combat the rising rates of shoplifting amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

One of those measures is a bag check policy, which one worker claimed was compulsory, the Grocer Magazine reported.

An Aldi spokesperson said the policy was implemented as a temporary solution in "certain stores" and emphasised the checks were always conducted with the shopper's approval.

Additionally, they said the checks were limited to the bags used to pack purchased items and did not extend to personal bags or handbags.

Read more: Fears of food inflation rise as UK harvests hit by cool, wet summer

But an Aldi staff member, who spoke anonymously, claimed shoppers could be refused service if they did not allow a bag check, although they admitted it had yet to happen in their store.

They said: "We are asking that they allow us to look in the bags to see if they are empty.

"We have been asking to look in the bags to make sure none of our items are in there”.

Aldi said the new bag check rule, introduced in May, was not "national policy” and was left to each store's discretion.

It comes as Co-op chief executive Matt Hood said he was “disappointed” that some were justifying shoplifting due to supermarket profiteering accusations.

Last week, the supermarket reported that more than 70% of crimes at its stores were not being responded to by police.

Read more: Meet the Redditch residents turning to food banks to survive amid rising interest rates

Co-op added thefts had increased 35% year-on-year, with alcohol and baby formula some of the more popular items stolen.

Hood told the Telegraph: “I was reading some of the comments when we’ve spoken about shoplifting being on the rise and people were saying ‘well, they are making so much money, so what difference does it make?’

“What drives me insane is the amount of people who want to claim it is victimless. Tell me, if that was your child working in that shop, would you say it is a victimless crime because it is fundamentally not.”

UK’s biggest supermarkets denied profiteering from food inflation or acting as a cartel when questioned about grocery prices by MPs last month.