Waitrose is facing mounting pressure to reinstate a long-serving employee who was dismissed after confronting an alleged shoplifter attempting to steal Easter chocolate from one of its London stores.

The retailer has come under fire after Walker Smith, who had worked at Waitrose for 17 years, said he lost his job just two days after intervening in an incident at the grocer’s Clapham Junction branch.

Smith said he was alerted by a customer to a man filling a bag with Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs from a seasonal display. He claimed the individual was a repeat offender and said he attempted to stop the theft by grabbing the bag.

A brief struggle followed, with the bag eventually splitting and the items falling to the floor.

Smith said one of the chocolate bunnies broke during the incident and that he threw a piece “out of frustration” towards a row of shopping trolleys as the suspected shoplifter fled, insisting he had not aimed it at the man.

He said he later apologised to his manager, having previously been told not to approach suspected shoplifters, but the matter was escalated and he was subsequently dismissed.

“I’ve been there 17 years,” Smith said. “I’ve seen it happen every hour of every day for the last five years. It’s everybody from drug addicts to teenagers nicking bits and bobs or walking out with bottles of wine in their arms. We’re not allowed to do anything.”

The case has triggered a wave of criticism online and prompted a fundraiser in Smith’s name, which has raised more than £4,000 so far. The organiser said he had “simply tried to do the right and noble thing”.

Politicians and commentators have also joined calls for Waitrose to rethink its decision.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp urged the supermarket to reinstate Smith, accusing the retailer of acting “disgracefully”.

In a letter addressed to Waitrose managing director Tom Denyard and shared on social media, Philp said Smith should be rewarded rather than punished.

“Staff safety must come first. But dismissing a long-serving employee in these circumstances sends entirely the wrong message,” he said. “It penalises those who act, while offenders are left unchecked.”

Broadcaster Iain Dale also criticised the decision on his LBC show, saying that if one of his own staff had tackled a shoplifter while he was running a bookshop, he would have wanted to “give them a pay rise, not sack them”.

The incident comes against a backdrop of rising concern over retail crime across the UK. Shoplifting offences rose five per cent in the year to September 2025, according to the latest official figures, with retailers continuing to warn over the growing frequency and brazenness of theft.

Waitrose defended its position, saying its policy exists to protect staff and customers from harm.

“The safety and security of our partners and customers couldn’t be more important to us, and we have policies in place to protect both,” the retailer said.

“We’ve had incidents where our partners have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters. Luckily, they have always recovered, but that might not always be the case.

“There is a serious danger to life in tackling shoplifters. We refuse to put anyone’s life at risk and that’s why we have policies in place that are very clearly understood and must be strictly followed.”

It added: “Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for.”

Waitrose said it had long campaigned for stronger protection for shopworkers, including making retail crime a standalone offence.

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