WATCH as chaos erupts inside a branch of Poundland after a security guard appears to slap a customer following an altercation.
Footage of the incident at one of the discount chain’s stores in Bradford, West Yorkshire was captured by an onlooker and shared to social media yesterday.
The two came to blows for an unspecified reason, with the altercation escalating to the point of the guard delivering a slap to the enraged customer’s face.
The clip shows the two standing at the end of the checkouts, seemingly mid-argument.
The guard, who doesn’t wear a uniform but has a device strapped to his arm, appears to have an issue with the man’s bike, which he stands alongside.
He yanks the bike forwards, which antagonises the man to deliberately push it towards him.
The guard appears to kick the front tyre, which results in the man coming closer and saying something in a raised voice, but he is too far away to make it out.
Suddenly, the guard lashes out and delivers an audible slap to the man’s face, knocking his sunglasses off his head.
His head jerks back and he moves backwards, away from the guard.
Almost immediately, shouts go up and a woman in a pink jacket appears, clearly angry at the situation.
She is closely followed by uniformed Poundland staff.
The shouting gets louder and another man joins the fray, with all three getting into the guard’s face as staff try to calm them down with little success.
One of the employees wraps an arm around the guard and leads him away.
The second bloke then appears to get into an argument of his own with somebody standing out of view, as the woman bizarrely wheels the bike towards the doors and he follows.
The man slapped by the guard reappears, seemingly calmed down, and clocks the person recording.
He says: “Are you filming this? Are you filming this? Thanks.”
The bizarre spectacle was posted to social media yesterday with the caption: “Meanwhile in Poundland Bradford, security slaps a customer.”
It has since received a slew of likes and comments from Brits keen to share their opinions.
One speculated: “Customer or shoplifter?”
A second said: “Why was the customer wheeling in his push bike, surely they should be locked up outside?
“Security guard shouldn’t have slapped the customer, but the customer shouldn’t be wheeling in his push bike.”
Another replied: “Violence is never acceptable.”
Another commented: “I would’ve sparked that jobsworth security out.”
A fourth wrote: “Poundland, best get [your] wallet out, huge claim going in.”
Another quipped: “Yup, that’s Bradford.”
Poundland has been approached for comment.
The security guard is not an employee of Poundland, and entered the store in connection with an alleged incident at a neighbouring shop.
Speaking today, a spokesperson for Poundland said: “We’re aware of the video featuring a security guard from a neighbouring retailer who came into our Forster Square store on Sunday.
“We’re looking into precisely what happened as a matter of priority.”
