A Tesco store in Edinburgh has been accused of discriminating against state school children by making them queue outside while private school pupils are allowed to come and go as they please.
It has been claimed that students from Boroughmuir high school, near the city centre, were made to stand behind a barrier by Tesco staff and only allowed to enter their local store in small groups. But students at the nearby George Watson’s college were not stopped at all.
The issue was raised by a parent of one child at the state school, who said it was a “form of discrimination”. Neil Pollock, a professor of innovation and social informatics at Edinburgh university, said: “Everybody should queue or nobody should queue.”
He told the Guardian: “My son is at Boroughmuir. He has to stand in the queue each day. He’s not one to complain but it was getting him down - so we decided to do something. He and his friends are frustrated because they have to wait outside whilst others go ahead of them. Tesco also ‘police’ the door in that they have a person there making sure they queue.”
Pollock said the pupils were “pretty angry” about the situation, saying his son and his friends were “really pleased that some one is finally taking it up for them. They don’t want to get into trouble, or to present their school in a bad light but they just think it is unfair.”
He said his son, who he asked not to be named, once tried to walk in behind a group of students from George Watson’s college. “The staff member sent him – but not the Watson’s boys – out of the shop.”
Pollock posted his complaint on Twitter last week and a Tesco representative responded with a series of tweets, telling him: “I’ve called the store and spoke to the duty manager, John... He said the private school normally have a lesser amount of children which is quicker and easier for the store.”
After Pollock indicated he was not happy with that explanation, a Tesco representative tweeted: “I agree we cannot have different rules.”
@neilpollock Hi Neil thanks for getting back to us, I agree we can not have different rules I would like to log your feedback for review 1/2
— Tesco (@Tesco) November 16, 2016
Three former pupils at Boroughmuir subsequently told the Guardian they had been made to queue outside the store, a Tesco Metro in the Bruntsfield area of the city, while they saw students from the private school allowed to enter.
Each of them separately described Boroughmuir students in school uniform being told to stand behind a barrier by Tesco staff, while children in George Watson’s college uniform were allowed to enter the shop unchallenged.
One former pupil, who asked not to be named, said: “My friend goes [to George Watson’s college] and, when I spoke to him about it, he said he remembers feeling so bizarre just walking in. Didn’t know whether to join the queue or not but the security said no you just go straight in.”
Craig Bannon said: “I found it very unfair. I felt like it was an unfair prejudice which did not seem justified.”
Another former Boroughmuir pupil, who asked not to be named, said: “Lunch is when it’s most crowded, I would walk to Tesco and once I arrive the security would be standing outside … then they would let around three school kids in at a time.”
Despite initially appearing to acknowledge on Twitter that the practice existed, Tesco later denied the claims. A spokesman said: “This is completely untrue – there has never been any discrimination between state and private school children at this store.”
