B&Q bans DIY fan from every store, after he complained about wiring in the store
Raymond Meerabeau, a DIY fan from New Malden, has been banned from every B&Q store in Britain, after complaining about exposed wiring in the store. He spotted that a cover had come off a fuse box by the lifts, and decided to take a photo so he could show the manager. However, rather than being thanked for his efforts, he has received a countrywide ban.
The New Malden Guardian reported that 64-year-old Meerabeau showed the photos to the manager, but instead of being thanked for pointing out a potential hazard, he was told off for taking photographs in the store and banned from the shop. He wrote to head office to complain about how the manager had reacted, and received a reply informing him that he was now banned from every branch of B&Q in the country.
According to the Daily Mail, he then wrote to the company to ask how long the ban would last, and was told it was a lifetime ban. A spokesperson told the paper that store managers had the right to stop any individual from entering the store if they felt their behaviour was inappropriate.
Banned
He's not the first to receive a ban from either a store or an entire chain. In the vast majority of cases, those who receive bans have done so after being caught shoplifting. However, there are a few unusual exceptions to that rule.
We reported last month on the 80-year-old from Newcastle Under Lyme, who had been banned from every Sainsbury's in the UK, after an incident with his mobility scooter. Albert Carter accidentally drove into a fellow shopper, then panicked and drove into the customer service kiosk. Sainsbury's said it had reviewed the CCTV footage and imposed the ban out of concern for other shoppers.
In October last year, a branch of Sainsbury's in Brighton became a target for protesters who staged a kiss-in, to complain about the lesbian couple who had been told to stop kissing or be thrown out by a security guard.
Back in 2010, one branch of Tesco banned shoppers from walking the aisles in their pyjamas. 24-year-old Elaine Carmody from St Mellons in Cardiff was one of the first to fall foul of the ban. She was asked to leave by a security guard, and told reporters she was shocked, as she was wearing her best pyjamas that day.
And in another branch of Tesco in Tiverton, Devon, staff put up a sign saying that scantily-clad shoppers were not allowed in store. Men would be forced to wear a shirt, and women made to cover up, for health and safety reasons - and to spare the embarrassment of other shoppers.
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