SS
Subham Saha
Jun 29, 2026
My wife and I have been regular customers of this Tesco Extra store in Top Valley, Nottingham, for around five years and have generally always had a very positive experience. The store is well maintained, and the staff have consistently been polite, helpful, and professional.
However, we recently experienced a very distressing, unpleasant, and harrowing incident in the store's car park on on 2nd June 2026 at approximately 10:15 pm.
As we were leaving the store foyer after paying for our usual grocery shopping, an adult Caucasian male customer with an unleashed dog began hurling abuse at us completely unprovoked. He ignored our attempts to avoid engaging with him as we walked towards our car. To our horror, he then began running towards us, chasing us with his unleashed dog. He approached in an aggressive and threatening manner while shouting angrily. Although we could not clearly understand everything he was saying, some of his remarks sounded hostile, threatening, and racially motivated. We distinctly heard words to the effect of, "This is my country. Get out of my country."
The situation escalated quickly. The man stood directly in front of our car, blocking our exit while continuing to shout and gesture aggressively at us. He repeatedly demanded that we get out of the vehicle. We felt genuinely unsafe and immediately locked ourselves inside the car for our protection.
For several minutes, he continued to position himself and his agitated dog in front of our car, thereby blocking our way and preventing us from leaving. Eventually, he moved slightly to one side, allowing us to drive away. We did not exit the vehicle at any point because we feared for our safety. Several other customers in the car park witnessed the incident but did not intervene, likely due to concerns for their own safety, which is understandable.
We immediately reported the incident to Nottinghamshire Police, who recorded the matter, provided us with an incident reference number, and took a detailed statement. We also spoke to the store's duty manager the following day. He was professional, apologetic, and confirmed that CCTV footage from the car park was available and could be provided to the police upon request.
We are grateful that the store staff took our concerns seriously. We would also like to emphasise that this appears to have been an isolated incident and does not reflect our usual experience of this Tesco store, which we have always found to be excellent.
That said, the incident was extremely frightening and has understandably made us more cautious about visiting this store, particularly during the evening. As honest taxpayers and law-abiding British citizens of South Asian origin, we feel it is important to highlight that people from diverse backgrounds may wish to exercise additional caution when visiting this store and using the car park late in the evening.