Matalan visit leaves me feeling like I'm guilty until proven innocent

Shoppers had also reported they were being made to pay for their clothes hangers

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Some people love a good wander round the shops and a bit of retail therapy, but I am not generally one of them. Sometimes, you just have to pop in, grab what you need and get out as quickly and painlessly as possible.

And so it was that I found myself in Matalan on Wolstanton retail park this week to pick up a new pair of pyjamas from their inexpensive but fairly extensive nightwear section.

I had heard that some shoppers had been less than impressed with the retail chain recently due to the introduction of a 10p charge for coat hangers - as well as complaints on StokeOnTrentLive's Facebook page about the availability of regular-sized 10p carrier bags and the indignity of having your receipt checked at the door.

READ: Matalan customers fuming after stores introduce new 10p charge

Before I had even gone into the store, which is between B&M and Dunelm on the retail park, I overheard one very respectable-looking older lady telling her friend how her receipt was checked last time as she was leaving the shop. "They must be losing a lot of stock," she added.

And indeed, there was a store assistant stationed by the doors. The clothing and homeware retailer, which also has branches in Longton and Tunstall, was busier than I expected for a Wednesday morning, which could have something to do with the fact that there is currently a sale underway with up to 70 per cent off items. I had a quick peek at the items with the biggest reductions before heading for the nightwear section, where some stock had 25 per cent off.

I picked out a pair which were originally priced at £11 - giving me a £2.75 discount - and ended up going completely the wrong way round the shop to get to the tills, which it turns out are at the back of the store behind the menswear section.

There was a small queue for the row of self-service tills which gave me the chance to eavesdrop on people attempting to purchase their items. There was just one till manned by a member of staff so people were generally having to muddle through by themselves.

"This is rather complicated," one frustrated lady complained to her companion. And indeed, it was a bit. Shoppers buying more expensive items which come with a security tag have to remove them themselves - and while there is a video clip that plays on the till to show you what to do, it looked like people were having some difficulty getting them off.

My pyjamas were free of security tags, but they did come with a coat hanger - and while I am never in my entire life going to hang up a pair of pyjamas, I can always make use of an extra hanger at home.

Generally you would just ask the store assistant if you can keep the hanger - and that's what I would definitely do at M&S a short distance away on the retail park. Here it's just you and the till, and a hole to drop your unwanted hanger into.

However, next to the scanner was a sign - somewhat hastily attached using brown parcel tape - urging shoppers to 'scan me when you take a hanger'.

'Here at Matalan we're working to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic,' it said. 'Protecting the environment is important to us, and we know it's important to you too.'

I hate that kind of sign - it makes me think 'how do you know it's important to me? I might not care at all!' - and in any case I'm sure it's more to do with wanting to recoup some in-store costs than environmental concerns, as people taking a hanger will in fact be re-using them at home.

But I dutifully scanned the barcode with the scanner only for it not to work, leaving me to input the 13-digit number manually to register the 10p charge. It's a bargain really - just round the corner from the tills they were selling packs of 10 plastic hangers for £4.50.

Having put my purchase in the cluttered bagging area, I reached for a bag for life - and indeed there were only the most enormous woven bags available. They seem very sturdy, but for £1.25 a pop they certainly should be.

I would have been more than happy with a normal 10p carrier bag that I could later use to line my kitchen bin. Maybe this is one reason why people's receipts are being checked - I could certainly have fitted a lot of clothing into that massive bag.

And we weren't allowed to forget that our honesty would be verified at the door. The store assistant on the one manned till regularly called out to remind everyone to take their receipts because they would be checked at the door.

While I do believe that if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about, it does give you a slightly uncomfortable feeling to know that you're going to be inspected as you leave the store.

However, as it happened, when I came to leave, the doors were unattended and I breezed through without any scrutiny. I did half-expect someone to run after me and demand to look in my bag but to my relief it didn't happen - although of course they wouldn't have found anything amiss.

But all in all it did make the whole shopping experience feel less pleasant. Although I don't really mind paying 10p for a hanger, I would have rather had a smaller, cheaper bag - and avoided the insinuation that I and my fellow shoppers may be guilty until proven innocent.

A spokesperson for Matalan told StokeOnTrentLive: "We are continuously reviewing the way we operate and in line with other retailers that have self-service tills we have introduced random receipt checking across various times of the day.

"We recognise our responsibility to reduce plastic waste and protect the environment and as part of our efforts to do so, we now charge 10p should customers wish to take one home."

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