On 28th January this year a story was run in the national press regarding Tesco banning their customers from wearing pyjamas in one of their stores in Cardiff (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/848116.stm)
A spokesman said, "Tesco does not have a strict dress code but it did not want people shopping in their nightwear in case it offended other customers".
Blackpool Organiser James Clayton emailed Tesco asking :
I read with interest the decision of your St Mellons, Cardiff store to introduce a dress code, prohibiting customers from shopping in nightwear or without footwear. I understand that this is to 'avoid causing offence or embarrassment to others'. Perhaps you could answer a couple of queries I have on this matter?
Firstly, does the no footwear rule apply to members of religious groups who choose not to wear footwear as part of their faith?
Secondly, I and no doubt many of your other customers are offended by those who wear Islamic dress in your stores, particularly the Burqua and Niqab which cover the wearer's face. Does it follow that you will seek to extend the ban to cover islamic dress in light of my comments and the offence caused to me?
Yours sincerely
James Clayton
Tesco have finally responded over 2 months later. Here is their reply:
Dear James,
Firstly, I would like to apologise for the delay in my response. We usually try to respond within 24 to 48 hours, so I'm really sorry I was unable to do this for you.
I was sorry to learn that you were unhappy with a recent decision made in our St Mellons store to request that customers refrain from wearing nightwear while shopping, as it was certainly not our intention to cause any additional upset.
While I do appreciate your comments, I would like to assure you that this is not a national policy. These actions were taken by our St Mellons store due to a specific problem the store had been encountering and were taken after numerous complaints were made by other customers.
I would like to assure you that we have no plans to institute a national dress code and can only reiterate that we do not discriminate against individuals based on gender, race, religion and sexuality.
Once again, please accept my apologies for any disappointment that has been caused, however I do hope that I have been able to clearly explain our position on this matter.
Tesco clearly did not want to answer the questions put to them by James Clayton and totally avoided them by sending him generic information over 2 months after the email was sent. Once again, another company who is afraid to upset the growing Muslim population of Britain.
