A SUPERMARKET has said staff were following company policy when they refused to call police after a woman claimed her mobile phone had been stolen while she was shopping.

Kevin Ruff was upset after security guards refused to help his wife Diane at Asda’s Silver Street, Worcester, branch on Bank Holiday Monday at 4.50pm.

“It’s on their premises so Asda have a duty of care to customers – they should have gone to the police,” said Mr Ruff, 59, of Worcester.

Mrs Ruff, 57, had gone into the supermarket on May 28 to buy a birthday card.

While paying for it at a self-service check-out, she placed her phone and purse down, explained her husband.

“She then picked up her purse and began to walk out, but realised she had not picked up the phone, went back but it was gone,” said Mr Ruff.

Having approached the store’s security, Mrs Ruff was told she would need to report it to the police and there was “nothing they could do”.

Mr Ruff said: “They have got it all on CCTV but they won’t disclose it. It shouldn’t have been us to go to the police. It’s like me going into Asda, nicking someone’s phone and sticking my two fingers up at the security guards as I walk out.

“They’re not going to just let me go.”

He said he then took his wife to report the theft to the police station but it was closed so they reported it through 101.

An Asda spokesman said the company is “sorry that Mrs Ruff misplaced her phone” in the Worcester branch.

“We would like to reassure her that in the event of an emergency, our colleagues will always call 999,” he said.