HOSTILE PEDLARS TARGETTING SHOPPERS AT SUPERMARKETS

Cyprus Mail - article by Bejay Browne 15 July 2018

Street sellers in Paphos’ main supermarket car parks are aggressively hassling shoppers to buy their products, mostly windscreen wipers, and seem to be targeting lone shoppers in particular.

In many recent cases, two, three or four men are homing in on shoppers with vehicles parked in car parks, removing windscreen wipers and forcibly trying to sell their product in a threatening manner.

Paphos resident, Madelaine Hampton told the Sunday Mail earlier this week that she was recently accosted in Papantonious car park in Chlorakas, Paphos.

“A man pulled my wipers off the windscreen and tried to change the blades for some very floppy rubber ones which he had a handful of.  I was livid and told him to get lost,” she said. “He was persistent but I did see him off.”

A significant number of readers have contacted the Sunday Mail to complain that these groups of men have been targeting mostly foreign shoppers at branches of the largest supermarkets such as Lidl, Papantoniou and Sklavenitis.

Last week this reporter was harassed at the car park of the central branch of Lidl supermarket by two men. They were given short shrift, but then moved on to an elderly female driver, aggressively removing her wipers and trying to fit their own stock whilst standing in front of her car, blocking her path, so that she was unable to drive away.

Paphos police said they were aware of the problem and verbal complaints had been made to them to which they did respond.

“However no official complaints (written) have been lodged and we would advise supermarkets and shoppers to take this action, as these people are committing possible criminal offences,” Paphos police spokesman Nicos Tsappis, told the Sunday Mail.

Despite numerous attempts by the Sunday Mail to contact Lidl about the issue via social media, email and the customer service line, no representative was available to respond.

However, representatives from both Sklavenitis and Papantonious supermarkets confirmed that they were aware of the problem and would do their best to tackle it.

The manager of the Sklavenitis central Paphos branch, Markos Christides, said they took the harassment very seriously and would be contacting the store’s central office to see what extra security measures could be put in place. The branch currently doesn’t have a security guard, but he hopes to rectify this in the near future.

“I have also talked to the staff and told them to be careful not to let this sort of incident happen again and if they see such a thing, to immediately call the police.”

A spokeswoman for Papantoniou’s stores said: “We have called the police many times over this and now we will make an official complaint to them. We need some help to stop this from taking place and we will try very hard to stop this from happening again.”

One elderly resident spoke on condition of anonymity, as she is so shaken by her experience.

“I was trying to get my shopping in my car at Sklavenitis in Paphos last week and a group of men removed my windscreen wipers and would not put them back on. They were jostling and loud and I was rather frightened. They didn’t speak much English and they weren’t Cypriot. They wouldn’t move away and I had to lock myself in the car until a man came to my rescue and shouted at them so I could drive away.”

The pensioner quickly left the car park without her windscreen wipers and had to have new ones fitted at her garage.

“This is a terrible thing to be happening in Paphos, it’s bad for residents and tourists too and the supermarkets and the police must do something to stop it,” she said.

Paphos resident, Gary Dury, said that on Monday, two men operating out of a dilapidated brown van at the car park of Lidl’s store on the Tomb of the Kings Road, approached him as he exited his vehicle trying to sell him wiper blades for his car.

“Both men had a bunch of new wiper blades and one of them lifted the wiper arm of the passenger side of my car and said ‘your wiper blades need replacing’, I told him that they did not, he just repeated himself, at which point I then walked off and into the store,” he said.

When Dury came out, he saw the men were harassing other shoppers whilst they were getting out of their cars and catching people of guard.

Shoppers have also complained about being harassed outside the Paphos stores by beggars, in particular women, some with children and others playing an accordion, to try to get money.

“I have seen small groups of them being dropped off by nice looking cars,” said resident Dave Clayman.