This is the moment a ‘superhero’ mother-of-three stood in front of a pair of thieves who had been trying to flee in a getaway car after stealing ten tubs of Cadbury’s Roses.
Hayley Burton confronted the two suspected thieves by standing in front of their vehicle as they revved the engine – forcing the red-faced men to hand over the sweet treats.
The 41-year-old trainee driving instructor had some time in between lessons in Southampton and popped to a Tesco Express at about 11am on December 17.
She then noticed two ‘really scruffy’-looking men walk into the store and got suspicious when only two minutes later one walked out clutching about ten £5 tubs of Roses.
Hayley Burton (pictured above) confronted the two suspected thieves by standing in front of their vehicle
Hayley stood in front of the vehicle (left) before a Tesco employee (right) went up to the car and took the chocolates back
Thinking there was no way he could have paid for them so fast, Hayley claims she asked Tesco staff if they’d seen what happened only to be told ‘if we call the police nothing gets done’ and ‘there’s not much we can do’.
She then decided to take matters into her own hands by bravely standing in front of their car and holding out her hand out to say ‘stop’.
Hayley admits she felt ‘a bit scared’ when the driver began ‘revving’ the car towards her and nearly touched her.
Footage then shows the red-faced suspected thieves forced to hand over the tubs of chocolate to a Tesco staff member, who patiently collects the tubs.
Hayley (pictured above) said despite her actions, she would not advise others to do the same as her
The suspected thieves were thought to have taken ten tubs of Roses (stock image of the chocolates pictured above)
As Hayley urges the staff member to get back all the tubs, she says ‘I’m not having it, I’m sorry, that’s what puts our prices up’. She said she ‘works really hard’ for her money and didn’t think it was fair that people could get away with it.
Hayley posted the video to Facebook immediately after the incident as she said ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ and it racked up more than 290 comments and 680 shares.
Some social media users said she was a ‘superhero’ for standing up to the thieves while others said she was a ‘jobsworth’ for getting involved over a fee chocolates.
She added that she didn’t want to ‘bad mouth the police’ but that Tesco staff had told her they were scared as ‘these days you never know if someone is carrying a weapon’.
‘He got into his car and, I don’t know if stupidly or not, I stood in front of it. He wasn’t going very fast and I held my hand out to say ‘stop’.
‘He revved the car up a couple of times towards me as if trying to hit me. He didn’t touch me but it was quite close and at that point I thought ‘I’m going to start filming here’.
Many on social media praised Hayley for her actions (comments pictured above)
‘I said ‘look, just give the chocolates back and then they won’t do anything’.
‘They were just putting their hands up and saying ‘what? We haven’t done anything’. [But] if they had purchased them they wouldn’t be giving them back, would they?’
Hayley said that while she ‘felt proud’ of her actions she wouldn’t encourage her children or others to do the same thing as ‘you never know what could happen’.
However she said Tesco staff ‘really appreciated’ her help in the situation.
Now she is urging Tesco to give more support to its staff even if it’s just someone at the door to act as a deterrent.
Hayley said: ‘I don’t know Tesco’s policies and the staff may feel they wouldn’t want to get hurt over a box of chocolates.
‘I think there should be more support for staff. I don’t know what security staff can do if anything nowadays but even if someone [stands] by the doors to put thieves off. Or have alarm labels on some items. It’s just a deterrent, isn’t it?
‘Most friends and family have said ‘fair play’ and ‘well done’, ‘you’ve done really well’, ‘you’re brave’.
‘I’d say [to other potential thieves] is it worth getting a criminal record or getting cautioned or getting arrested for a box of chocolates? I mean there were ten but is it really worth it?’
A Tesco spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the incident at our Tesco Express store in Southampton and will be assisting police with their enquiries.’
A Hants police spokesperson said: ‘I can confirm we have received a report of shoplifting at the Tesco Store on Cobden Avenue, Southampton, which happened between 11.15am and 11.25am on December 17.
‘The report was received four days after the incident. No arrests have been made at this time.
‘All calls that come into our control room are risk assessed before a deployment decision is made.
‘Factors include if a crime is on-going, whether there is an immediate threat to life, and whether there are any units available who are not responding to priority calls.’