Hi guys, Has anyone been barefoot in the Trafford Centre in Manchester recently and had any problems with the staff? I was barefoot in the centre this morning (as I have been on several other occasions in the last 12 months) and was approached by one of their red-jacketed staff. He asked that I leave the premises because I was in breach of the Health and Safety guidelines by not wearing shoes. When I asked the staff member where this was detailed, he produced a piece of paper from his pocket entitled "Health and Safety Guidelines". I could find no reference to footwear on this sheet, apart from roller scates, bicycles or scooters. The gentleman pointed me to the relevant section which was the last paragraph which stated something along the lines of "any other actions which would put at risk the health and safety of the centre or its' visitors" (please forgive me, I cannot remember the exact wording). At the time, I had no footwear with me, so was left with no choice but to leave. I fail to see how my own personal choice of not wearing shoes creates any health and safety risk to the centre or its' visitors. I was upset and annoyed at the situation, as I was unaware that it would be an issue in the centre. There were no clear guidelines, only one persons interpretation of a very general statement. I have written them an e-mail this afternoon to ask them to clarify their policy on barefoot customers (I shall post an update as soon as I hear back from them). I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience at the Trafford Centre, or any other UK shopping malls. Dan.
Red jackets ... is that a Westgate operation? I've been through their (much smaller) centre in Nottingham barefoot without any problem. I think it all depends on the joker you find.
Been in a few shopping centres (norfolk) and never had a problem, must just be the red coat (I thought they worked at butlins) that you met!
It's rare to have any problem in Western Europe, I have only traveled in Scotland but no one gave me any trouble. There's certainly not such a great anti-barefoot attitude as in the US, where many people believe it's a health hazard! But of course every country has a few foot phobics. Odds are you'll never encounter him again, but you can also take it up with his boss and call them.
I wonder if this globalization they talk about could make a difference? If any big foreign company would establish in some other country, would they export their rules to?
I Very Much Doubt It barefootswede......When A Big Company Sets Up Branches Overseas It Is Expected Of Them To " Respect The Cultures ,Laws ,And Customs Of That Country"......Failing To Observe This Basic Curtesey Usually Results In Bad Publicity.....Poor Profits...And In Some Cases, Closeing Down Of That Branch !! Cheers Glen.
I've never seen a 'no shoes, no shirts, no service' (or a Dutch equivalent) sign on any McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken or any of the other US based chains. Nor have I ever had any trouble going barefoot in any of them, any more than in Dutch/European based places.
I'm living here in Manchester, and I go to the Trafford Centre maybe once a month. I can't say I've ever tried to go barefoot in there yet, but I will do eventually. I can imagine what the red jackets are like. They strut around the place like they're the owners and tell people what they can and can't do. I mean seriously, if I get any more hassle from them I'm going to put in an official complaint against them. More than once I've been hassled by them for my actions or what I'm wearing etc. Hopefully the managers will listen to us, and if not my next step would be a complaint to John Whittaker (Peel Holdings chairman (aka the owner of the TC)) and then if that doesn't work I write to the government asking for a new policy about discrimination against people who are barefoot whereby people by law only HAVE to wear shoes if in a restaurant kitchen, a building site or other places where *shudder* footwear is required. That way if the red jackets hassled us we could say that they are breaking the law in discriminating against us.
I've never been shopping in Manchester, but have never had a problem in either Hull orLondon (or any other town) about my barefoot habits. The only place i've ever been turned away from is HMS Belfast, on safety grounds, because of its rusty old deck.
See I can understand being turned away from something like that, but being turned away from shopping malls because of being barefoot is ridiculous.
Hmm, well shouldn't they be doing something about that deck if it's actually dangerous? I have a two year old nephew who runs, falls down, gets back up, runs, falls down, etc. Is he allowed to go to that store or does he need to wear protective gloves and a helmet?
Yeah, I don't know what the deal over here with us is. Makes me crazy! Putting it nicely. I blame a lot of things on control freaks, and that's probably part of it, but over here I think it's also something else too. This is supposedly the freest country on earth. NOT if things like that get to us it isn't.
