Milk cartons given champagne treatment ... with security tags
TESCO has apologised to customers after attaching security tags to four-pint milk cartons in Cornwall.
Shoppers in the village of Pool were left bemused after noticing plastic security tags, usually reserved for bottles of champagne and razors, had been individually tied to milk cartons in their local Tesco.
The tags can only be removed once a person has paid and sets off an alarm if anyone leaves with them still attached.
One customer at the Tesco Extra branch claimed to have heard from an employee the tags were in response to a spate of milk thefts, possibly driven by the cost of living crisis.
The anonymous customer told Cornwall Live: “I couldn’t believe it at first and thought it was some kind of joke or a mistake, but I overheard a member of staff tell a customer that there had been a lot of thefts of milk and this was their way of trying to stop it.’
However, the supermarket giant insisted this was not Uk-wide policy and said it was “human error”.
A Tesco spokesman said: “We do not have a policy to place security tags on fresh milk. A very small amount of milk was incorrectly tagged today in our Redruth Extra store and these tags have now been removed. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
Security tags are used on expensive or dangerous items such as alcohol, razors and perfume.
Meanwhile, Co-op last night admitted to encasing dishwasher tablets and baby milk in security boxes at one of its outlets in Manchester to deter thieves.
Photographs posted on social media show Ariel, Bold and Persil products, costing as little as £3.50 on the shelves, under lock-and-key with a sign below reading “shoplifters will be prosecuted”.
Baby milk brands such as Aptamil and Cow and Gate were also placed in security cases. A spokesman said the policy was not Uk-wide and that Co-op had seen “no rise in instances of theft”.