Sainsbury's worker of 20 years sacked after pressing 'zero bags used' at end of night shift

A bloke was sacked from his Sainsbury’s job after 20 years for clicking the ‘zero bags used’ button on the self-checkout.

Depending on how brave (and well, naughty) you are, perhaps you’ve often felt the urge to take a bag for life without paying for it at the supermarket. Look, it’s not something anyone encourages simply because it is stealing.

But there’s no denying that people still do it despite being wrong.

And this man ended up losing his job over it as he chose the ‘zero bags used’ option when packing up a £30 shop after his night shift.

Bosses of the Romford Sainsbury’s store watched CCTV of the transaction, deciding Niamke Doffou could no longer be trusted. He was sacked for gross misconduct back in October 2022.

He was a night shift assistant at the store. (May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

A tribunal heard that the man made ‘more than one trip’ to get bags for his shopping despite selecting the contradicting option and checking his receipt.

Doffou accepted that Sainsbury’s has a zero-tolerance policy to theft.

In the early hours of the morning during the August bank holiday, the night shift assistant bought £30 worth of food, pillows and bedding and placed them into ‘multiple reusable bags for life’ which are sold for either 30p or 65p.

Having completed the shopping after his night shift, Doffou claimed he was ‘tired and unaware of what he was doing’ when he took the bags without paying.

At his disciplinary hearing, bosses found that the worker had ‘not acted in error’ and while he may have done it ‘absent-mindedly’, had been ‘dishonest and deliberately not paid for the bags’.

The tribunal was told: “[The disciplinary hearing chairman] formed the view that he had deliberately selected the zero bags option on the self-checkout, knowing full well he would need some to put his bulky shopping in.

He took the bags without paying for them. (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

“This in turn, she concluded, meant that [Sainsbury’s] could no longer have trust in [Doffou] as an employee, even if the bags did not cost as much as his shopping had.”

The former supermarket worker appealed this decision, but it was dismissed.

Employment Judge Eleena Misra KC said: “Having considered all of the evidence before me, I concluded that the claim for unfair dismissal is not well founded and is therefore dismissed.

“The CCTV footage and receipt clearly proved to [Sainsbury’s] that [Doffou] took ‘bags for life’ without paying for them. [Sainsbury’s] carried out a reasonable and proportionate investigation into the alleged conduct and he was given a full opportunity to respond.

“[Doffou]’s explanations were not deemed to be credible explanations and [Sainsbury’s] was entitled on the evidence to conclude that he had committed misconduct notwithstanding the low value of the bags taken.”

LADbible has contacted Sainsbury’s for comment.