Tesco employee sacked over a cup of coffee!

On the 26th April 2016, a dedicated, hard working and honest Tesco employee was sacked due to gross misconduct. The employee in question was doing a change run on the 17th April, going from the main store in Hardengreen to their petrol filling station. As always there are two staff involved in this process. Whilst at the PFS, the employee got herself a cup of coffee from the costa coffee machine. She done this as she was due her morning break and the larger Costa in the main store is always busy and would have taken up a large part of her break. At the time she did not have change to pay for this coffee, and witness to four members of staff stated she would come back on her next break or at the end of her shift to pay for this. As we all know, and as human beings it is easy to forget is it not? Unfortunately the employee in question did just this. Remembering on her way home, she said to the member of staff she was getting a lift home from, that she had forgotten and must go pay this on her next shift. Unbeknown to her one of the PFS staff had called the duty manager and reported that the coffee had not been paid for, taking away any chance she had to rectify the situation. On return to work the employee was pulled up by one of the store managers, telling her she would be taken for an investigatory meeting as she had 'stolen' from the store. Did she steal or did she just forget? Following this investigation, she was told she would have a disciplinary meeting at 9am on the following Tuesday. Today, the 26th of April, at her disciplinary meeting, the employee in question was sacked on the grounds that she stole, not only from the store manager but the other 300 employees. The managers could no longer trust her so they had no other option but to sack her. Over a genuine mistake to pay for a coffee? Is this fair? Should she have been treated in this way? This petition is not here to get her job back, but to prove that she is a trustworthy, hard working person and has been nothing but loyal to Tesco since she started working there in December 1999. I ask her colleagues and customers to sign this petition to show their support and show the managers that their decision was the wrong one!