Hi,

I was looking at the post submitted by one of your members regarding the “banning” of all school children from Sainsburys in Forest Hill and I wanted to submit a response to clarify our position.

It is factually incorrect that all schoolchildren have been banned. It is also not the case that I am looking to include the Girl’s School in that exclusion.

Prior to the decision being made I had seen a rise in the number of incidents involving pupils from Forest Hill Boys which typically related to theft/attempted theft but also instances of poor behaviour i.e. shouting/swearing. I received a number of complaints from colleagues who felt intimidated whilst in the course of their duties but also other customers e.g. elderly and parents with small children who had raised their concerns. When I initially approached Forest Hill Boys about the issue they were not in a position to support me with curbing the behaviour of their pupils, so a decision was made at that time to exclude pupils from that school during the school week (This did not extend to such times as they are accompanied by an adult i.e. Parent/Guardian) Since then I have received contact from the school who assure me they have addressed the matter with the school community in assemblies and requested a Safer Schools’ Officer visit me to work on a solution that means I could consider lifting the ban.

As a parent myself I can completely understand that it could be considered unfair to “tarnish all children with the same brush” however I have a duty of care to 130 colleagues and my customers to ensure that antisocial behaviour from any member of the public is not tolerated. If other schools or organisations present a similar issue I would seek to approach them in the same manner as I have done with Forest Hill Boys to try and resolve the issue as amicably as possible.

I am currently reviewing the position and will make a decision in due course.

Regards

Andy Long

Andy Long | Store Manager
Rupert Eaton | Deputy Store Manager
Forest Hill 0404 | Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd
38-48 London Road | SE23 6HF.
manager.foresthill@sainsburys.co.uk | 0208 699 7977