Asda Chatham click and collect thief drives off with family's shopping
21:21, 28 March 2020
updated: 19:04, 12 April 2020
A mother has told how a brazen thief drove off with her husband's 'click and collect' shopping after loading it into his own car.
Rebekah Manning, 30, said goods worth £300 were stolen from under husband Jon's nose as he waited in his car at the collection point at the Asda supermarket in Maidstone Road, Chatham.
Refusing to leave empty-handed, Mr Manning, 38, then ended up waiting in his car for three hours for a replacement order.
The incident happened after he had just given his order number to a member of staff and was sitting in his car waiting for the goods to be loaded at around lunchtime today.
But another man drove in front of him and started loading the crates into his own car.
According to Mrs Manning, a member of Asda staff told him not to take the crates themselves but did not prevent him taking the goods inside.
Realising what the thief had done, the supermarket worker then suggested Mr Manning try to get another delivery slot and apply for a refund.
But mother-of-two Mrs Manning, of Weavering, Maidstone, said her husband had been shopping not only for their family but for her 84-year-old grandmother and 61-year-old father, who are both in isolation at home.
He asked the store to find a replacement for the stolen shopping while he waited.
Mrs Manning said: "I got up at 4am to secure the slot and would have had to wait at least three weeks for another one. Jon said he wasn't leaving until he had got our food.
"He then had to sit in the car for three hours until they brought out more crates. But when we got it home, half of it was missing."
Mrs Manning, who works as a paralegal for a law firm in Wye, near Ashford, said she had to speak to a call centre in the US, where she was offered a refund for the missing goods and a £10 voucher.
She is hoping the store has CCTV footage of the incident, which has also reported the theft to police.
One witness to the incident said staff had done their bet to stop the thief but it was difficult to do so without coming into physical contact.
Asda and Kent Police have been contacted for comment.
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