Man sues Coles for refusing to let him keep putting his groceries in single-use plastic bags

A 64-year-old man took Coles to court for discrimination after the supermarket giant allegedly stopped packing the single-use shopping plastic bags he washed at home.

Lance Tyrrell has been a regular customer at Coles’ Greenacre store, in Sydney’s south-west, for many years and the staff would pack his groceries into their supplied small single-use plastic bags.

But the supermarket giant stopped giving out small grey bags free of charge in 2018 and shoppers were required to buy larger reusable plastic bags for 15 cents per bag. 

Mr Tyrrell kept a collection of the small grey bags and continued to use them for his shopping after the policy change.

The 64-year-old claimed Coles staff began to refuse packing the groceries into his plastic bags and suggested they were not ‘clean’.

He claimed Coles’ decision to avoid packing his bags ‘amounts to indirect discrimination on the ground of his disability and/or his age’.

Coles denied Mr Tyrrell’s claims and said it will pack a customer’s groceries into any bag permitting they are clean.

Mr Tyrrell lodged his complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Board on November 30, 2018. He alleged discrimination on the grounds of age and disability in the area of goods and services.

Mr Tyrrell, who uses a walking stick, said the new bags are so big he can fall over as they are ‘flopping around’.

‘I feel like I’m being discriminated against because people of other ages and races and everything else are using other bags and they’re dirty or broken but the staff are still filling their bags for them,’ he said.

‘There are people without disability, and people of all age groups, you know, from about 20 and up and they’re bringing in not only dirty, broken, damaged Coles bags, but Woolworths and other bags, canvas bags, all sorts of bags of their own.’  

A statutory declaration in defence of Mr Tyrrell said: ‘I have seen Mr Lance Tyrrell’s grey plastic bags which are clean and smell of lavender.’

Lance Tyrrell has been a regular customer at Coles’ Greenacre store, in Sydney’s south-west, for many years and the staff would pack his groceries into their supplied small single-use plastic bags (stock image)

‘He reuses them and are free of damage with no holes. He washes them each time he uses them.’

In a letter tendered to the Anti-Discrimination Board, Coles said bags must be kept in a ‘clean state’.  

‘Please keep your plastic bag alternatives in a clean state – the bags are easy to care for and most are hand or machine washable.’

‘For health and safety of you and our Coles team members, checkout operators will not pack bags that are excessively dirty.’ 

The tribunal acknowledged that Mr Tyrrell had a disability but ruled with the supermarket giant. 

‘We are not satisfied that the acts of individual staff members at Coles Greenacre where they have refused to pack his grey plastic bags for reasons other than the state of cleanliness or repair of the bags was done with the authorisation, either express or by implication, of Coles,’ it said.  

‘We are not satisfied in the absence of evidence that it could be said that a substantially higher proportion of shoppers who do not have Mr Tyrrell’s disability are able to comply with the requirement or condition that they present with a bag other than the small grey bags.

‘Accordingly, this claim of indirect disability discrimination is dismissed.’