Lidl customer mistaken for shoplifter in Houghton Regis store

The incident happened in the Lidl store in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire

Lidl has apologised to a man left "humiliated" by being mistaken for a known criminal in one of its stores.

The man, who wanted to be known only as Mark, was told he resembled a shoplifter in its supermarket in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire.

He said he did not think it would have happened if he was white, adding: "When you're black you're guilty until you prove your innocence."

The store chain apologised and said "appropriate actions" had been taken.

Mark said he had gone into the store to exchange an item on 26 November when a manager "got a telephone out of his pocket, enlarged a photo on it and asked 'is this you?'"

He said the photo showed a black man with a beard, wearing a hoodie and carrying an orange bag, riding a bicycle.

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"The manager told me this black man was a known criminal in Luton and Dunstable areas and he had been banned from all of the Lidl stores in those areas and he believed me to be this person," said Mark.

"It wasn't me. I then offered him ID to prove that it wasn't me but he didn't believe it to be true. He was convinced this person was me."

The former firefighter said there were members of the public and other staff watching, and he felt "100% humiliated".

Mark said he "categorically" did not think a white person would have been mistaken in the same way.

"When you're white, you're always innocent until you're proven guilty but when you're black you're guilty until you prove your innocence," he said.

In an email to Mark, seen by the BBC, Lidl said it was "extremely saddened" by the incident and accepted he had been "wrongfully accused" of shoplifting.

It said "all appropriate actions" had been taken to ensure Mark did not receive the same or similar level of service again and offered him £20 in vouchers to spend in store.

In a statement to the BBC, Lidl said: "We are sincerely sorry for the events that took place in our Houghton Regis store. Our teams work tirelessly to deliver a welcoming and positive shopping experience for our customers, and we were therefore incredibly disheartened to learn that we let [Mark] down on this occasion.

"As soon as our customer service team became aware of this incident a full investigation was conducted by our regional management team. This incident should have been handled differently and our store team have been reminded of their responsibilities in correctly carrying out our policies and procedures."