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News
Majestic employee stabbed in violent robbery
An employee of UK wine merchant Majestic was beaten and stabbed with a wine bottle before being locked in a toilet during a violent robbery, prompting a reward of £10,000 to be offered for anyone with information leading to a prosecution.
The employee was attacked shortly after opening the UK wine merchant’s Ealing store on Hastings Road in London on 20 May at about 10am.
A man entered and first demanded money from the safe before threatening to kill the employee.
A violent struggle ensued in which the victim was beaten with a bottle of wine causing serious cuts to the head as well as stab wounds to the arms and hands.
Cash was stolen and the assailant left the premises after locking the heavily bleeding victim in the toilet.
Majestic has since offered a reward of up to £10,000 for information leading to a successful prosecution.
The attacker is described as a black male, aged between 20 to 25-years-old, around 6ft tall of stocky build and was wearing a grey hooded top.
Detective Constable Phelim Redmond, from the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad, said: “This was a particularly nasty robbery during which the attacker used a gratuitous level of violence and could have resulted in a more serious outcome. I am appealing for help in identifying the person responsible before he strikes again.”
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Flying Squad at Putney on 101 quoting reference 2511966/14.
Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org
so that’s how much the Board of Directors at Majestic value the health, safety and well being of their staff ?
bizarre – what a great company to work for …………
Well put Chris!
Truly awful company to work for. The way they treat their employees is appalling…
How many staff were present? If the victim was locked in the toilet it sounds like no other staff were there. An entire store full of high value stock (Champagne, brandy, whisky etc), with cash on site and only one member of staff present to open up and watch the store? Staff need to be protected and kept safe. Perhaps they should review how many staff are on duty, as one staff member in a shop is an easy target, 2 is better and 3 is a possible detterent. As a former Majestic staff member, I felt vulnerable when other staff members were out on deliveries. My sympathy goes out to the victim and I hope they make a speedy recovery.
This is a horrible story to read. As an ex-employee, I do feel the need to comment.
There is far too much ‘solo working’ at Majestic Wine and it is simply unacceptable. I would often work shifts alone for 2-3 days at a time and even when there are two members of staff in store, one is out for most of the day doing deliveries. These are big stores, with high value products and it is simply not right to ever be working alone there.
Aside from the possible fear of attack or robbery, quite simply no provision was made for employees to take their 30 minute lunch break (in which time, contractually you are allowed to leave the store) or toilet breaks as closing the shop was ‘frowned upon’ by regional managers.
This is a very unfortunate event. I can only hope Majestic reviews it’s policies regarding the number of staff they employ in each store.
This is a truly awful thing to have happened, but sadly not surprising. The only surprising thing is that Majestic are lucky enough (or their employees are lucky enough) that this hasn’t happened before. These stores are often left to be run by a single member of staff often for days at a time.
I only hope that this makes the company rethink it’s staffing policy, sadly I strongly suspect it will have little or no impact.
I wish the employee a speedy recovery.
This news is horrific but sadly not surprising. As a manager of a high street off-licence I am under increased pressure to cut hours and I am forced to put my members of staff on alone in the evening. Our store sells premium high quality brands and some are very expensive.
Last year we had an incident similar but not as serious, this could have been prevented if two members of staff were covering the store. Unfortunately companies are more concerned about cutting costs than the safety of their front-line staff. We live in a world where customers are just a statistic and the staff are expendable. It’s only a matter of time before something more serious happens.
This incident will fall upon deaf ears and won’t impact on the way these companies do business, it always has been the same, even in high risk areas, staff are still forced to work alone.
My thoughts are with the employee and family. I hope they catch the attackers and throw the book at them.
Like my fellow commenters I am a former Majestic employee. One of the reasons I left the company was the lone working. I used to get very nervous working alone, especially when multiple customers were in the store.
As to the management not wanting staff to close the store, I was working alone quite often and printed a sign saying “back in 5 minutes” to put on the door for toilet breaks etc. Chief executive visited the store, saw the sign and tore it up saying that the door should always be unlocked during opening hours.
My heart goes out to this poor person and their family.
As a current Majestic employee this is a scary and shocking story – made worse by ex employees publicly advertising how often they worked alone! Please have some consideration over your comments and the level of detail you’re using…
Majestic Management – comments please! You owe it to these contributors to provide an explanation. Show the same courage these lone workers have.
I work in a high street supermarket but quite often work alone in the BWS section and am expected to act as security against shop lifters. So far no attacks although many shoplifters challenged and / or deterred. As far as l am concerned if l am threatened they can take the lot.
Spoeedy recovery to the employee.
Why has it taken two months for this horrific situation and story to come out? Two months? I have friends who are Majestic staff who only just heard about this on the rumour mill recently and had to search out the story themselves. Bad form, really bad form. And if the nation didnt know about the company and high value stock and lone working, they certainly do now!
Helen, really? OK, let’s all keep our mouths shut and sweep it under the carpet. The last thing we want to do is tell the truth. Far from making it worse it can only serve current employees to their betterment if lone working in this environment is exposed. Don’t attack the messengers. They have worked this way and deserve to be heard. What’s more, if the level of detail is correct, as I assume you agree it’s correct by your comment, the ex employees are the last people you should be questioning. Try asking your current employer, for there is the root of the problem….they should have a risk assessment for each site detailing what measures and controls are in place to protect both staff and customers…..