My daughter has recently been the victim of a crime – her iPhone was taken from her closed bag whilst over her shoulder – who ever did it was a pro as she had no knowledge of it being taken. She is obviously upset, but what I find most upsetting is the reaction of the club staff and management at the club in Nottingham where the crime occurred.
I am not going to name the venue, suffice to say it is very popular and is always busy, so one assumes they don’t want to get a name for being a crime hot spot – it wouldn’t be good for business!
Now first off let us just clarify that my daughter did not lose her phone, she is 100% sure it was in her bag and I believe her, she was very careful with the iPhone as it was her pride and joy and knew her movements with it shortly before it’s theft was discovered. So when she reported the theft at the club, what was their reaction?
Basically to tell her she couldn’t prove it had been stolen, so it must be lost. Not a great start, and I am sure that the form she filled in to give her details has been ‘filed’ in the general file or ‘bin’.
Having reported the theft to the insurers I was asked to speak to the club to see if they had found anything and ask if they had CCTV for that area. On asking these questions I got the stock answer;
“how do you know it was stolen, can you prove it?”
Yes if we can see the CCTV was my reply! I was swiftly cut off with the line;
“that’s covered by the data protection act, you can’t access that, only the police can see that”!
How helpful – just as well the police are involved then! I do think this attitude stinks, and I have since learnt that this club ‘is known’ for it’s phone thefts. Perhaps I am expecting some good old fashioned values of decency here – obviously sadly lacking!
Martin Davies
September 18, 2012 at 12:54 pm
name and shame – I would