Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB Published: 8 February 2008
Pupil caught by Sainsbury’s uniform ban on kids
WHEN Alice Spencer stopped to buy a birthday present from Sainsbury’s on her way home from school, the biggest problem she expected to face was deciding which chocolates to buy.
What she didn’t know was her school uniform would plunge her into an embarrassing stand-off with the supermarket’s security guard.
The 15-year-old Highbury Fields pupil and her friends were barred from entering the store because of a policy imposed by the Angel branch of Sainsbury’s refusing entry for children in school uniform.
Now Ms Spencer’s mother Jane, a psychotherapist, wants the management to lift the policy or she will ask fellow parents to boycott the store.
Her daughter said: “It felt very embarrassing. I told them it’s a silly generalisation to stop all young people in uniform from going into the shop.”
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said: “We apologise for any inconvenience this decision may cause, but it has been taken as a last resort to maintain security and order in our store, for our customers and colleagues.”