AN Aberystwyth supermarket has been accused of discrimination against schoolchildren after banning them from taking their bags into the store.

Management at CK Foodstores, in Waunfawr, have taken the unusual step of posting signs near the entrance asking all school pupils to leave their bags at the door “following recent incidents”.

But a Penglais School pupil has hit back at the store, claiming the new rule unfairly discriminates against young people, and vowed not to return to the store until the notices are taken down.

“I know it is private property and they can do what they like, but it shouldn’t be there,” said Year 11 pupil Zeta Mancini, 16.

“It is discriminatory. If an elderly person was caught shoplifting, they wouldn’t tell all elderly people to leave their bags at the door.

“I don’t go in there anymore because of it. Some of my friends still go there, but I don’t.”

Not only are the signs discriminatory, said Zeta, but they also put pupils’ personal belongings at risk of theft.

“I think in the mornings, they put a member of staff on the door to remind pupils to leave their bags there,” she added. “If there are lots of bags there, anyone could come past and take a bag and say ‘oh, that’s my bag’ and walk away with it.”

CK’s store manager, Sharna Rhodes, told the Cambrian News it had always been store policy for pupils to leave their bags at the door, but that a recent spike in incidents of theft, including one on Monday this week, meant they had started to strictly enforce it.”

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