Man abandons 22 trolleys filled with food and drink after card refused

A shopper filled 22 trolleys with £3,338 of food and drink and put them through the till – without having the cash to pay for them. Supermarket workers were left furious as they had helped the man fill his trolleys with beer, soft drinks and crisps after being told he was shopping for a charity fundraiser. Three staff who had helped the man with his bumper shop were left to return everything to the shelves after his card was repeatedly refused.

The manager of Morrisons in Barry said he had even opened a new till aisle to help the mystery shopping put his goods through the checkout, where they were packed for him. Store manager Tony Ware, who even publicised the man’s supposed charity fund-raiser on the store’s public address system, said the scene was “pandemonium”.



“He said: ‘Of course I am, I have got £9,000 in the bank fund for this.’” Mr Ware said when the man had filled up 22 trolleys he directed him towards a newly-opened checkout where the eventual bill was £3,338.16. “All the shopping went through from one side to the other so I waited then to make sure the transaction went through with no problem,” Mr Ware said.

“It came to £3,338.16 and the card was not authorised. He said it was fine and said: ‘Let me ring the bank’.” But after the bank provided an authorisation code, payment failed again and when staff were told to contact his local branch they were told he simply couldn’t pay. The man was told to leave or police would be called and he has since been banned, while 15 staff took an hour to replace the groceries.