Non employee wearing company uniform

[Elyana]

Just interested to know where we stand in legal terms and whether anything can realistically be done about it.

The person in question wears company branded uniform in the vicinity of our operations. Essentially they are impersonating a staff member and at the very least in possession of company property.

They have never worked for us but purchase the items on eBay from ex employees. Whenever anyone tries to broach the matter there are complaints of harassment.

Thoughts?

I think it is a risk, my kids use public transport to get to school. If there was an issue on a bus or train, we have always told them their first port of call is a member of staff.

I would be concerned that my child might approach this man for help and that he wouldn't disclose he wasn't a member of staff. He could then potentially make a situation worse.

I do thin pieces the British transport police would be interested, if only to have a chat, try and understand the motives and perhaps tell him that it's not to continue. That may be enough to discourage him. Assuming it's a man, I'm not sure you've said.

^^

Yep.

If this is the case (i.e. airport, fake employee) then unless the individual attempts to access a controlled area or is wearing a fake ID suspect the police won't be very interested.

OTOH some/many airports have bye-laws in place to supposedly only allow on site those travelling through or working at the airport - so might be an option for intervention there.

As an aside at least one airline regards the selling on of uniform as quite a big deal, watches the like of eBay for the same and demands any item identifiable as company uniform is returned when a employee leaves the company (security again).

Trainspotters and bus spotters, etc. don't generally dress-up as employees of the company and hang around stations or bus stops. That's not usual. It suggests a degree of obsession above and beyond the normal degree of obsession associated with spotting.

This has perplexed me, why does a major transport hub have unsecured vehicles?

Just the way they are built I think @SpottyBalloons . I mean unless you were trained you wouldn't know how to access or start them, let alone drive them.

This is a massive risk still. The person could gain access to areas that they shouldn’t be, your employees are likely to be feeling unsafe or bothered that this person is being seen as “getting away with it” as no one is doing anything. It’s a health and safety issue, security issue and reputation risk. What impression is it giving your customers?

I don’t think you’re as powerless as you think. You need to act.

What if he is vulnerable and impressionable and you have a colleague being stalked by an ex and they convince him to get them into a staff only area, or give the ex the uniform? I’m not being outrageous here, this has happened. I work in HR, we had this in a shop when I worked in retail, it was a big store so not all staff knew each other. The ex had bought a uniform from an aggrieved ex employee and came in (someone held the stock room door open for them as they thought it was a staff member who they didn’t know) and the ex violently attacked their ex. It was horrendous.

Get on to head office, security, legal, insurance. Do it today.

The Weatherfield One. 😝

@Elyana

As Rainbowshine says -

Get on to head office, security, legal, insurance. Do it today..

Certainly some organisations have a department set up to protect the brand, the brand image and everything associated with the company (including employees)....it was called "Asset Protection" where I last worked....

If such exists at your place maybe worth giving them a ring?

I'm inclined to agree, will follow up

Is it a tram operator?

You aren't in Aberdeen are you OP?

If you aren't, it might be commonish issue and another hub might have practical experience.

If this is Railway related this is a huge risk. Please contact BTP and the relevant department in your company.

I think we're meant to guess the specifics and offer opinions in what we think is happening.

My son 11 bought a Greg’s outfit in Primark on the weekend, would it be the same thing if I dropped him at a Greg’s?

@Sophie89j those Primark clothes aren't actually the staff uniform though.

You could go the harsh legal route etc but if he's amenable to talking, can you get him to compromise with a train uniform that's clearly not from your company? Eg a Japanese or German train driver uniform (a lot of trainspotters like these 2 train systems)

The Greggs x Primark range is literally designed and manufactured by Greggs for public sales, so it's obviously different

Will he engage with a friendly staff member or talk about himself / his interest in the organisation at all?

I'm wondering whether he could be persuaded to change his clothes for something else. So, for example, if you're a bus company could he be given some old photos of the bus company and an old-school conductors uniform?

Or can you persuade him to move his interest elsewhere? So, for example, if you're a tram-driver is there a transport museum in the town which you could recommend where he can interact more closely with the trams?

He does sound very vunerable to me so, if it isn't possible for someone to encourage him to a different solution, my suggestion would be for you to ring adult social services. It sounds like he could do with a support worker to help him change his behaviour.

If it’s a bus depot they tend to be quite open because of the buses going in and out all day so I can see how it could be a security problem. I don’t have a solution but can see why this is an issue. Is he trying to get free fares (bit of an extreme way to do it) or he is just a fanatic?

Like this guy? He did graduate to nicking trains (admittedly helped by other employees who let him cover their shifts)

I know someone who works at St Pancras station. She stands at the ticket barriers. She says there's a man there in a Hi-Vis jacket who stands and directs people onto the platform and trains.

He doesn't work there. They can't do anything because he isn't in their 'uniform', just something that looks like it might be

I know I may not have the full story but poor guy!

If you look at it another way, although it might not be illegal you would be perfectly in your rights asking them to leave.
I would have no problem asking a member of the public cos playing as one of the team in my shop to leave, and issue them with a banning notice.
The uniform is the tricky bit-it’s not like you can rip it off them.

Whatever his intention might be, wearing a uniform does bring a lot of authority that could be easily abused.

I remember on an old episode of The Real Hustle, one of them went to a random car park wearing a hi-viz jacket over his own clothes and a mocked-up lanyard (so not even a full uniform) and held a clipboard; and then he approached everybody who parked up telling them that the machines weren't working, so they needed to pay him in person. Almost everybody paid up without any quibble at all. Had he been a real fraudster (and not giving the hustled people an explanation and their money back afterwards, as they always did on the show), he could have obtained a fortune by deception.

Hi OP. Have you looked into the law of passing off? Might be worth investigating with your company legal team whether you could get an injunction to prevent him, in addition to considering the police route. Assuming the ex employees who sold the uniforms on eBay had stolen company property, I think the company as the owner of the uniforms is entitled to require them to be returned.