An employee who had worked for Sainsbury’s for almost 20 years has been sacked for taking some “bags for life” without paying for them at the end of a night shift.

Niamke Doffou worked at the Romford Sainsbury’s store as a night shift assistant, and one early morning after his shift decided to do some personal shopping.

Mr Doffou bought some food, bedding and pillows worth £30, but as he was checking the items out, clicked the “zero bags used” option on the till when he had in fact used multiple carrier bags. Oh the humanity!

Amazingly, bosses checked CCTV footage which showed Mr Doffou making multiple trips to get carrier bags, though his receipt showed that these bags were not paid for.

Mr Doffou said he was tired and unaware that he had clicked the “no bags used” button on the till, and that it was an honest mistake. Sainsbury’s bosses were not having it though, and sacked him for theft/gross misconduct.

Bit harsh? Mr Doffou thought so, and so he took his case to an employment tribunal claiming that he was unfairly dismissed. Unfortunately for him, his appeal was unsuccessful as the tribunal ruled that Sainsbury’s were well within their right to sack him, despite his 20 years of service.

It’s hard to believe that Sainsbury’s would sack an employee who they actually liked and valued, especially when he’s been working with them for two decades. So it sounds more like a “we’ve been looking for a reason to sack this guy for years and finally found something we can use” kinda sacking.

There’s really no other reason why they’d make a big deal out of it in the first place, or look through the CCTV to that degree over a few carrier bags. Regular customers get away with it all the time!

Given there’s no other mention of dishonesty in his 20 years working there, you’d think it would be treated as a one-off and Mr Doffou be let off with a warning, but you have to assume that he simply was not a very popular member of staff, for whatever reason.

Then again, I don’t work at Sainsbury’s, so maybe they really are this strict with all their workers, no matter how popular they are or how long they’ve worked at the store.

Theft is theft at the end of the day, even if it’s just a few 20p bags for life, so it’s no surprise the employment tribunal ruled in favour of Sainsbury’s. Unlucky, Niamke Doffou. I hear Aldi is hiring…

Speaking of which – to meet the Aldi worker who blew £12,000 of stolen takings on drugs and prostitutes, click HERE. All caught on CCTV also.