Over 100,000 sign pensioner’s petition to bring back tills at Tesco
69 year old Pat McCarthy says her local Tesco has ''inaccessible self-service tills with no staff', leaving some shoppers waiting over 30 minutes to be served
A regular shopper at Tesco is pleading with the supermarket giant to “stop replacing people with machines”, and has even launched a petition to take them on.
Pat McCarthy, aged 69, started the petition after she struggled to use the self-checkout tills at her local big Tesco supermarket.
Stating “you can’t speak to a machine”, she’s now calling on the company to reintroduce more staffed checkouts – and it seems the nation is on her side.
The petition has already hit over 100,000 signatures – 102,222 at the time of writing – and looks set to soon become one of the most-signed petitions on Change.org.
In it, Pat makes several well-put arguments for the return of more staff, explaining that at her local Tesco, and “probably all over the country, Tesco is bringing in new self-service and sort-it-yourself card only till machines. They make up 3/4 of the tills now.
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“These new tills are not accessible for people who don’t have credit cards and can only use cash or those with little confidence to use these self-service card-only tills – myself included.
“As an older woman, I can’t lift anything heavy, and that goes for many disabled people.”
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She continues: “People such as carers, older people, disabled people with mobility problems or lifting problems have to queue waiting for more than 30 minutes.
“I couldn’t lift the windscreen wash the other day in Tesco because it was so heavy and some men were lovely to help and had to put it in my car for me.
“If they weren’t around and my daughter wasn’t with me, I would have been helpless.”
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On my last visit to Tesco’s we had a £170 shop. We were told to go to the self check out tills! We said unless you open the check out we were leaving all this right here and will never shop here again – they opened the tills #BringBackTescoStaff
Her petition also points out that the new self-service tills have “displaced mainly part-time women staff”, and echos something many older people miss – the bit of chit-chat you have with the staff as they’re scanning your items.
She explains: “I love chatting with the staff, albeit briefly, especially as l live on my own. Talking with human staff is important to me. Now that experience has been taken away from me.
It is not the first time that shoppers have pushed back against self-checkout tills. Back in 2015, Morrisons brought back staff at 1,000 “express” checkouts after learning 67% of their customers felt enxious using the self scanning tills.
The full petition reads: “My name is Pat, I am 69 years old, and retired but I am a volunteer helping disabled people with applying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) forms and a Trustee of my local Disability Network.
“My local Tesco has inaccessible self-service tills with no staff which makes the shopping experience physically difficult and overwhelming.
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“At my local Tesco mega-store, and probably all over the country, Tesco is bringing in new self-service and sort-it-yourself card only till machines. They make up 3/4 of the tills now.
“These new tills are not accessible for people who don’t have credit cards and can only use cash or those with little confidence to use these self-service card-only tills – myself included.
“People such as carers, older people, disabled people with mobility problems or lifting problems have to queue waiting for more than 30 minutes.
“I couldn’t lift the windscreen wash the other day in Tesco because it was so heavy and some men were lovely to help and had to put it in my car for me. If they weren’t around and my daughter wasn’t with me, I would have been helpless.
“These new self-service card tills have displaced mainly part-time women staff.
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“I love chatting with the staff, albeit briefly, especially as l live on my own. Talking with human staff is important to me. Now that experience has been taken away from me.
“With these new replacement Self-service-card-only tills (SSCOT) you have to choose your shopping if you can find it, put it in the trolley, unpack it, load it onto the belt that is static, scan it (if the scanner works), shove it across onto a packing area, pay for it and then lift it off out of the packing area and then load it into your trolley. This is a physically taxing process. As an older woman, I can’t lift anything heavy, and that goes for many disabled people.
“I challenge Ken Murphy Chief Executive of Tesco to meet with me for a discussion to explain his ‘replace people with machines policy’. I want Ken Murphy to bring staff back to do check-outs on the till and not have a replace people with machines policy.
“If we lose, it means an erosion of a great shopping experience into a Tesco’s shopping nightmare.
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“Sign and share this petition to help people with physical difficulties to have a better shopping experience in Tesco by bringing back staff.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “Our colleagues and the friendly service they provide are absolutely vital to our stores and will always be on hand to help our customers, whether they are checking out at one of our colleague-operated or self-service checkouts.”
If you’d like to sign the petition you can do so here.
Castlefield is being transformed into Gotham amidst more Hollywood filming in Greater Manchester
Danny Jones
Castlefield, with its iconic viaduct and cobbled streets, is once again being used for big-budget filming as the latest Batman/DC Universe title, Clayface, looks to be setting up in the eye-catching Manc corner.
Whether it’s football kit reveals and brand shoots, BBC dramas or the next upcoming Netflix series, production crews can’t get enough of Castlefield, it would seem.
For those who hadn’t heard, work on the new Clayface movie revolving around the cult favourite Batman villain is well underway, and the North West has been used as the backdrop on multiple ocassions this month already.
You can see early glimpses of the set being put together down below.
Come on, how cool is it that we get to stumble on stuff like this right on our doorstep so often?
Speaking to The Manc, a source detailed that the set is being assembled today (Tuesday, 16 September) ahead of a single day of principal photography on what we can only assume is more Clayface filming sometime tomorrow.
While she could not confirm with us directly, she said, “If you’re a comic book nerd and look at the posters, you’ll be able to figure it out.” We’ve certainly been studying all the easter eggs already.
It might not quite be as dark and gritty as Gotham City, but this particular part of Manchester has been used in TV and film – especially period dramas – many times for good reason.
The Victorian-era steel structure, dark red brick and overall industrial aesthetic work so well when it comes to creating a believable and cinematic world.
Besides perhaps the most famous instance of Peaky Blinders shooting in these parts, you can add multiple music videos, several Manchester United and Man City shirt launches, and so many more that we’re starting to lose track.
As for Clayface, this isn’t even the first time the upcoming DC ‘body-horror’ flick has popped up in Greater Manchester.
Last week saw the equally striking Art Deco facade of the old The Plaza Super Cinema in Stockport turned into a fictional movie premiere to stunning effect:
Speaking of, another childhood favourite is filming here in Manchester right now, too.
Besides perhaps the most famous instance of Peaky Blinders shooting in these parts, the new Narnia adaptation by Greta Gerwig may just be one of the biggest projects that has ever landed underneath the familiar ‘birdcage’.
ln fact, it just so happens that there are actually multiple noteworthy small and silver screen works fighting over the Castlefield shooting schedule at the moment…
Manchester City staff member sacked after wearing Man United shirt to shift
Danny Jones
Man City have divided a fair few supporters after they sacked a barman for wearing a United shirt to their shift during the Manchester derby.
Although it’s not exactly surprising, the decision has ruffled plenty of feathers on both sides, as well as among neutral fans.
The Blues emerged victorious in the 197th clash between the two local rivals, winning 3-0 on an evening that paid tribute to the late, great Ricky Hatton, but another backstory looming over the fixture that caught the attention of football fans online was the City staff member who lost his job.
Working on concessions inside the Etihad Stadium before the game, the barman was made known to the official MCFC Matchday Support channel on X, who quickly confirmed he had been let go before the game even began.
In the since-deleted post, the home fan who reported the worker wrote: “Absolute joke – letting one of the bar staff in block 315 wear a United shirt on Derby Day.”
Although many City fans applauded the fast action by the club on the day, it’s fair to say that sacking him so soon that he didn’t even last until kick-off has rubbed many others the wrong way.
One Liverpool fan commented: “I hate United way more than City, but to sack him from a job because of an item of clothing is crazy. So, so poor from Manchester City, this. It’s just football lads, he’s not wearing a political or derogatory symbol. It’s literally a football team…”
Another neutral added: “Getting a minimum wage worker sacked for having a bit of fun instead of just winding him up is the absolute sad state this country is in.”
Even the ‘Out Of Context Football Manager‘ parody account chipped in, writing: “The guy’s been sacked for this. All he needed was a formal warning. I get he’s taking the p*ss – but losing a salary he might really need over this?!
While many have been even more outspoken in their response, as you can see, many supporters – be they Red or otherwise – have come up with arguably the perfect solution:
Manchester City are yet to comment on the backlash, apart from the initial confirmation that the still-anonymous staff member has been released from his position, but as for Man United, simply sticking him on the kiosks in the Stretford End could prove to be a very easy bit of positive PR.
Besides the growing frustration around the fanbase, as Ruben Amorim has yet to turn things around at Old Trafford (pressure was growing even before the derby day defeat), the Red Devils could no doubt do with some positive press for a change.
In fact, it was only earlier this year that co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada and the wider INEOS Sports administration sanctioned a second round of redundancies at United, with approximately 450 individuals losing their jobs.
That being said, although some have labelled the sacking of the now ex-City barman as “absolutely horrendous behaviour” for Man City, many jumped to quip back that “[United are] more likely to sack more bar staff, not hire them”, as well as simultaneously taking aim at their significant transfer spending.