Tesco self-service petition: Why 100,000 people signed a petition against Tesco self-service

The campaign has garnered support online under the hashtag #BringBackTescoStaff.

A petition has gathered over 100,000 signatures in an effort to “bring staff back to do check-outs on the till” in Tesco stores across the country. The hashtag #BringBackTescoStaff has also taken off on Twitter, with thousands of people sharing the petition and their own opinions on self-service checkouts on social media.

Here’s what you need to know about the campaign and its progress so far.

Over 100,000 people sign Tesco self-service petition

110,282 people have signed the petition on Change.org as of the morning of Thursday May 19th. 69-year-old Trustee of a local Disability Network Pat McCarthy in London started the petition after she went to her local Tesco to reportedly find no staff working.

"At my local Tesco mega-store, and probably all over the country, Tesco is bringing in new self-service and sort-it-yourself card only till machines,” Ms McCarthy writes in the petition. “They make up 3/4 of the tills now. These new tills are not accessible for people who don't have credit cards and can only use cash or those with little confidence to use these self-service card-only tills - myself included.

People such as carers, older people, disabled people with mobility problems or lifting problems have to queue waiting for more than 30 minutes. I couldn't lift the windscreen wash the other day in Tesco because it was so heavy and some men were lovely to help and had to put it in my car for me. If they weren’t around and my daughter wasn’t with me, I would have been helpless."

Ms McCarthy goes on to state that she believes the staff who have been let go to make way for the self-service machines are largely part-time working women.

The petition has been shared widely on social media as support grows. Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

"I challenge Ken Murphy Chief Executive of Tesco to meet with me for a discussion to explain his 'replace people with machines policy',” Ms McCarthy concludes. “I want Ken Murphy to bring staff back to do check-outs on the till and not have a replace people with machines policy. If we lose, it means an erosion of a great shopping experience into a Tesco's shopping nightmare.”