Lidl forks out £25,000 to customer following row over bags of shallots at checkout

Lidl has been forced to pay £25,000 to a customer following a row over bags of shallots at checkout.

The shopper, who has chosen not to be identified, was attempting to purchase shallots at the checkout as part of the retailer's 5p Christmas veg offer.

The incident took place on Saturday, December 20 last year, at the supermarket's Whalley Banks branch.

Lidl has paid the full sum to the customer following a civil court claim, along with an additional £1,250 in costs.

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The total award, including interest, came to £26,382 after the County Court delivered its judgment on May 29.

Under the terms of the promotion, customers were limited to three packs of each vegetable and a single visit per day.

The man said a staff member confronted him at the till, alleging he had already been in the store earlier that morning.

He said: "I had only entered the store once. The accusation was made publicly, in front of other customers and staff."

As someone from a minority background, he said he experienced the confrontation as racial profiling, explaining that being challenged and refused service made him feel he had been targeted because of his race.

He said: "Because I was visibly distressed, staff called a manager over through their headset. I was angry and trying to understand why I was being treated the way I was."

An argument followed when the manager arrived, with the customer repeatedly asking for a proper explanation.

He described being left feeling unsupported and confused, adding that he was at the time recovering from a recognised mental health condition.

The encounter triggered an immediate panic attack, documented in his medical records, with symptoms including shaking, chest pressure, breathing difficulties and a temporary inability to drive.

A week after the incident, Lidl's customer care team sent him an apology by email, which he dismissed as inadequate.

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He said: "I did not believe this apology was sincere. A generic customer care apology was not good enough, and given the severity of what happened, an apology at that stage felt too little, too late."

The man added that the retailer's subsequent handling of the matter compounded the damage, with a drawn-out insurer-led process requiring him to repeatedly revisit the episode.

He told the Lancashire Telegraph: "This prolonged the distress and worsened my mental health."

The man subsequently brought a civil claim against the German supermarket chain and has not returned to the Whalley Banks store since the incident.

Lidl stated that the judgment was entered "in default" because a third-party administrative error had left the company unaware of the claim, preventing it from mounting a defence.

The retailer stressed that no findings of discrimination against Lidl or any of its employees were made as part of the ruling.

The company added that it maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination of any kind.

A Lidl GB spokesman said: "At Lidl GB, we are committed to fostering an inclusive, welcoming environment for every customer and colleague.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination of any kind, and we take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously.

"While we are unable to comment on individual legal proceedings, we can confirm that, due to an administrative error made by a third party, we were regrettably unable to submit our defence for one of the sets of proceedings within the required timeframe and as such, a default judgment was made."

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