Shoppers were left terrified after Tesco staff were seen swearing and hurling metal baskets at two men they had ejected from the store.
Footage from the shocking incident shows a security guard flanked by a pair of workers staring at the removed customers as they stood outside the supermarket branch in Finsbury Park, north London.
While the reason for the disagreement is unclear, the guard can be heard telling them in a calm manner: ‘Take your stuff and go.’
But then one of the men outside retorts with ‘f*** you’, escalating the argument between them.
Without hesitation, the security guard can be heard saying: ‘You come next time and I’ll f*** your a** up, okay? Call the police.’
Those words then prompt the men outside to throw an unidentified object towards the store, with the security guard only narrowly missing being hit while holding a metal basket and a plastic crate.
Seconds later, the security guard takes a run up and throws the metal basket outside the doorway towards the men, before being hit by another object.
As he takes refuge back inside the store, the men outside can be seen throwing plastic crates towards the entrance.
Shoppers were left terrified after Tesco staff were seen swearing and hurling metal baskets at two men they had ejected from the store
The security guard can be seen in the footage taking a run up and throwing the metal basket outside the doorway towards the men, before being hit by another object
The security guard can then be seen throwing a plastic crate down to the ground during the incident which left customers terrified
The security guard can then be seen throwing a plastic crate down to the ground, as a staff member picks up a metal basket and joins in with the skirmish.
A man outside then begins throwing plastic crates more aggressively, knocking over a metal shelf standing outside the store.
Throughout the incident, a male shopper looks on in disbelief and attempts to keep himself away from the bombardment.
After being shared on social media, viewers were swift to condemn the security guard’s action as ‘not acceptable behaviour’ and ‘very unprofessional’.
However others defended his actions.
One wrote: ‘For everyone criticising the Tesco staff from the comfort of their sofa…..just stop and imagine having to deal with this EVERY SINGLE DAY.’
Another said: ‘This is my local Tesco’s, the staff and security are always approachable and helpful.
‘They don’t deserve this kind of behaviour there should be more police patrolling the area.’
A spokesperson for Tesco apologised and said ‘the conduct does not meet the high standards we set ourselves’
A Tesco Spokesperson said: ‘We’re investigating what happened here as the conduct does not meet the high standards we set ourselves, and we apologise for this.’
The incident comes as latest figures show retailers are increasingly coming under pressure to tackle shoplifters and attacks against retail staff.
Violent and abusive incidents hit more than 2,000 a day during the 2023/2024 financial year, new figures released earlier this year revealed.
And retailers have ‘little faith’ that the police are taking shoplifting seriously as the cost to firms rose from £1.8billion to £2.2billion.
The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has also passed half a million for the first time.
An astonishing 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023.
The figure is the highest since current police records began 22 year ago in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Shoplifting offences have been at record levels for the past two years and have seen a ‘sharp rise’ since the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS said.
But the real figures are likely to be far higher given that many shopkeepers fail to report offences to police because they feel little will be done, retail leaders said.
