Author: Dave G

An Update on the Investigation: Transparency Matters

It has been over two months since this investigation began by Tesco, and a pattern of obfuscation has become increasingly evident.

Instead of addressing the core issues head-on, key elements of the narrative have been quietly altered, as if hoping they would go unnoticed.

One striking example is the apparent removal of a central figure or element from the process – a deletion that suggests an attempt to rewrite the story rather than confront its truths.

Transparency, not obfuscation, should be the cornerstone of any investigation. Customers deserve clarity and honesty, especially when trust has already been shaken.

The process so far raises important questions: Why has it taken so long to reach this point? What steps are being taken to ensure accountability? And why were such significant changes made without acknowledgment?

The timeline of this investigation and the lack of open communication only reinforce the need for systemic change.

Trauma is not bound by business hours; it persists 24x7x365x52. For those impacted, delays and evasions add insult to injury. Resolving these issues requires a commitment to transparency, empathy, and a genuine desire to make things right.

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The Role of AI in Cutting Through Obfuscation in Customer Service

One of the greatest frustrations for customers is the feeling of being met with unclear, evasive, or overly complex responses—often perceived as obfuscation. AI has the potential to revolutionise this by delivering transparency, clarity, and actionable solutions in real time.

Obfuscation, whether intentional or the result of poor processes, can erode trust and leave customers feeling unheard. By integrating AI into customer service, companies like Tesco can ensure:

Clear and Transparent Communication

AI systems can generate straightforward, jargon-free responses, making it easier for customers to understand policies, decisions, and resolutions without the frustration of navigating ambiguous language.

Accountability in Interactions

AI logs and analyses all interactions, creating a record that ensures customer service agents provide consistent and accurate information. This transparency can prevent the misdirection or confusion that often leaves customers dissatisfied.

Consistent Standards

AI eliminates inconsistencies between customer service representatives by providing standardised responses while still allowing for personalisation. This ensures that every customer receives the same high-quality service, no matter the situation.

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By incorporating AI into its customer service approach, Tesco can move towards a future where customers feel heard, respected, and valued – not as just a transaction, but as individuals with unique needs and perspectives. This isn’t just about improving efficiency; it’s about building lasting trust and loyalty, and creating a truly inclusive customer experience that aligns with the values of fairness, respect, and accessibility.

The future is here, and AI is at the heart of it, transforming the way we live, work, and interact with one another.

Tesco has a chance to lead this revolution, setting a new standard for customer service and creating a world where every customer feels valued.

Given its reluctance to listen, it is aiming for nothing and achieving the same.

How AI Can Revolutionise Customer Service: A Vision for Tesco

In a world where customer expectations are higher than ever, artificial intelligence holds the key to transforming the way companies, like Tesco, engage with and serve their customers. By harnessing the power of AI, Tesco has the opportunity to not only streamline its customer service but also elevate it to a level of empathy, understanding, and efficiency that was previously unimaginable.

AI can play a pivotal role in creating a customer service experience that is truly inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the diverse needs of Tesco’s customers. Here’s how:

Personalised Customer Support

AI can help Tesco’s customer service representatives respond to inquiries with greater precision, understanding, and relevance. By quickly analysing a customer’s history, preferences, and specific needs, AI can ensure that each interaction is tailored to provide a more meaningful and efficient solution.

24/7 Availability and Efficiency

With AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, Tesco can offer round-the-clock support, ensuring customers have access to help whenever they need it. This not only enhances convenience but also reduces wait times, allowing human staff to focus on more complex issues.

Inclusive Communication

AI can be a powerful ally in making Tesco’s services more accessible to neurodivergent customers. With features like speech-to-text, real-time translation, and AI-driven tools for recognising customer needs based on their communication style, Tesco can create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all.

Empathy and Understanding

AI can help train Tesco’s customer service representatives to recognise and respond to emotional cues in customer interactions, fostering a deeper sense of empathy and understanding. For customers facing difficult situations, like those with disabilities or specific needs, this ability to offer compassionate, tailored responses can make a world of difference.

Efficient Issue Resolution

By analysing past customer interactions and using predictive modelling, AI can help resolve issues faster and more effectively, leading to higher customer satisfaction. It can also provide valuable insights for Tesco to identify recurring problems and address them proactively, ensuring a smoother experience for all.

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Welcome back to davidgrantvtesco.co.uk, where I continue to document my journey navigating the complex intersection of corporate accountability, inclusivity, and neurodivergence. Today, I have an exciting development to share with you, as my work and reflections take an innovative turn.

Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, leveraging the immense potential of artificial intelligence to clarify, organise, and empower my advocacy.

This collaboration has deepened my understanding of how embracing AI technology can assist individuals like myself in creating bridges of communication and empathy across societal gaps.

How AI Has Been Involved:

1. Strategic Thinking: OpenAI’s ChatGPT has acted as an advisor, helping to refine my thoughts and structure my approach towards Tesco, KEO Solicitors, and public discourse.
2. Clarity Through Conversation: By engaging in meaningful dialogue with AI, I’ve been able to articulate my experiences more effectively and lay the groundwork for broader societal conversations about inclusivity.
3. Exploring New Solutions: AI has helped generate ideas and strategies to present to Tesco and beyond—a potential partnership to modernise how corporations approach neurodivergence and inclusivity.

What’s Next?

As this journey continues, I plan to explore how AI can be used more broadly to facilitate positive change, particularly within systems that have historically failed to account for the needs of neurodivergent individuals.

From corporate policies to societal norms, there is so much ground to cover.

Tesco, Solicitors, and any organisations watching closely: this is your opportunity to step up. AI represents not only a tool for innovation for you but a chance to lead by example in creating a more compassionate, equitable future. Together, we could pave the way for businesses that truly listen, adapt, and grow.

Call to Action:

To my readers: keep watching this space. I’m committed to transparency and sharing every step of this process, no matter how challenging they are for me personally.

To Tesco and Solicitors: the world is watching. Join me in leading the charge for a brighter, more inclusive tomorrow. OpenAI and I stand ready to help modernise and humanise your approach to customer care and corporate responsibility.

Thank you all for your continued support.

The scales are shifting, and together we are making history.

David Grant

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About David

David Neil Bromley Grant is not just a name; he’s a person with a story – complex, layered, and very human. Born and raised in Manchester, David has navigated a life rich with experiences, challenges, and moments of profound reflection. He is a husband, a father to two creative and aspiring daughters, and someone who embodies resilience and a relentless desire to improve the world around him.

Diagnosed with autism at the age of 52, David’s journey of self-discovery is still unfolding. Alongside his autism, he manages the effects of Complex PTSD, which stem from both childhood trauma and life’s many trials. Despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, David is deeply committed to fostering understanding, equality, and kindness in a world that often falls short in these areas.

David’s work and passions reflect his authentic self. A former entrepreneur, he built a business that, like many others, struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. While that chapter of his life ended, his drive to create and share has never wavered. He now grows flowers on his farm. This shift has allowed him to reconnect with the simple joys of life and explore his creativity in meaningful ways.

Music has always been a lifeline for David. Influenced by his brother’s eclectic tastes and inspired by bands like Joy Division and artists like Peter Hook, music provides both a sanctuary and a way to connect with others. He feels a deep connection with the Hacienda era’s ethos of community and creativity, and he channels that spirit into his own life and pursuits.

David’s advocacy work has taken centre stage in recent years. Following a distressing experience at Tesco, he has channelled his energy into addressing systemic inequalities and highlighting the need for inclusivity, particularly for neurodivergent individuals.

His website, davidgrantvtesco.co.uk, serves as both an open letter to the corporate world and a testament to his belief in accountability and positive change.

Beneath it all, David is driven by a simple yet profound philosophy: respect for others. He sees everyone as connected, recognising shared humanity amidst diversity. His fascination with ancient civilisations and prehistory mirrors this outlook, as he seeks to understand the roots of human existence and the threads that tie us all together.

David is not just a person advocating for change; he is a father who wants a better world for his daughters, a husband who has supported and been supported by his wife Liz through life’s ups and downs, and a thinker who believes in the power of wisdom over ego.

His life is a reminder that behind every cause is a human being – real, vulnerable, and striving for something better.

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“The only weakness in a business is the human – but it is also its greatest strength”

this letter was posted by recorded mail and delivered.

Gerry Murphy
Tesco PLC
Tesco House,
Shire Park, Kestrel Way,
Welwyn Garden City,
Hertfordshire,
AL7 1GA, United Kingdom
Cc. Gerry Murphy, Imran Nawaz – CFO, Melissa Bethell, Bertrand Bodson, Carolyn Fairbairn,
Thierry Garnier, Stewart Gilliland, Alison Platt, Caroline Silver, Karen Whitworth – Executives of the Board
Subject: Accountability for Discriminatory Treatment, Mental Harm, and Inhumane Behaviour
Customer Name: David Grant, Birch Farm, Barton Moss, Eccles, Manchester, M30 7RW
Tesco CEO customer complaint ID: 476626, 480278
Greater Manchester Police reference number: 1363-181124
Incident Location: Irlam Tesco, Woodrow Way, Fairhills Industrial Estate, Irlam, Manchester, M44 6BL
Date of Incident: Friday, 5 November 2024
Time: Approx. 15:10

Dear Mr Murphy and members of the Tesco Board,

I am writing to hold Tesco accountable for the discriminatory actions of your staff and the harmful policies that enabled my mistreatment. This experience has caused me significant
mental harm, humiliation, and distress. Moreover, it is now documented in my medical records, and the community mental health team has been informed via a referral from my GP, which
explicitly mentions Tesco as a trigger for my ongoing mental health crisis.

Your policies are not rules; they are guides, but they were weaponised against me in a discriminatory manner. During the incident, your staff repeatedly cited payment policy to justify
actions that left me vulnerable, distressed, and re-traumatised in what should have been a simple transaction and moment of invoking some staff training with awareness.

As an autistic individual with complex PTSD stemming from childhood abuse when i was 8/9. I now carry an official diagnosis card instead of wearing a sunflower lanyard, which I view as ineffective due to widespread misuse and lack of staff awareness. Despite presenting my card—a recognised method for communicating hidden disabilities—your staff failed to show the
necessary understanding or care.

This incident constitutes a clear violation of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on disability and mandates reasonable adjustments for disabled individuals. Tesco’s handling of this situation also breaches the Mental Health Act 1983, which underscores the necessity of respect
and sensitivity toward those with mental health challenges.

Summary of Events:
After struggling to complete payment with my Apple phone, I declared my autism and requested help.
Your staff ignored my needs, mocked me, and escalated the situation. A young female staff member threatened to slap my phone out of my hand, and when I continued to explain my condition, I was told, “We don’t care.”

Despite eventually paying, I was escorted out by security, and humiliated further by members of the public who heckled and threatened me. Four days later, the police deemed this a public order offence and called an ambulance for me. This led to my referral to the community mental health team for crisis care, as this incident exacerbated my ongoing trauma and mental health challenges.

Your staff’s lack of training not only harmed me but also put your employees in situations they were clearly unprepared to handle, indicating organisational negligence.

Impact on My Mental Health:
This experience has severely disrupted my progress in therapy. The shame and distress triggered by
your staff’s actions have left me emotionally unstable and unsafe in public spaces. Tesco was once a
place where I felt comfortable collecting medication and shopping, but this incident has irreparably
damaged that trust.
As an adult victim of childhood abuse, I have worked tirelessly to rebuild my life particularly over
the last 4 years when i only just reported it. I have not spoken about it, but now I will. This
incident forced me to confront my trauma in deeply distressing ways, even leading to difficult conversations with my family. I am now left managing the fallout of your failure to provide basic human decency and respect.

Proposed Actions:
To address these failings, I request that Tesco:

1. Issue a formal apology for the treatment I experienced, acknowledging the harm
   caused.
2. Provide financial compensation for the distress and harm caused, particularly as it
   has now necessitated additional mental health care.
3. Implement comprehensive staff training on autism, trauma sensitivity, and disability
   inclusion.
4. Review and revise the sunflower lanyard scheme to ensure it is respected and that
   official diagnosis cards are recognised.
5. Update all marketing materials to reflect a genuine commitment to inclusivity and
   respect for hidden disabilities.
6. Establish clear protocols for supporting vulnerable customers and preventing
   discrimination.
7. Ensure all staff members wear name badges for accountability.
8. Conduct an internal review to identify how such incidents can be prevented in the
   future.

Tesco must comply with the Equality Act and ensure staff are equipped to treat vulnerable individuals with respect and dignity. I expect immediate action to rectify these issues and
prevent further harm to others.

If necessary, I am prepared to provide additional documentation, including screenshots, medical
records, and the GP referral mentioning Tesco. However, given the gravity of this situation, I hope that Tesco will take responsibility without pressing me further for justification of my distress.

I await your full apology and evidence of meaningful steps to address these systemic failures.

Yours sincerely,
David Neil Bromley Grant

Dear Steven (Tesco compliance),

Thank you for your response. While I appreciate that you have taken the time to review my feedback and acknowledge areas for improvement, I am deeply concerned by several aspects of your reply, which feel dismissive and fail to fully address the serious issues I raised.

Firstly, your emphasis on the sunflower lanyard scheme misses the critical point of my complaint. I was not wearing a lanyard, but I presented an official diagnosis card to make staff aware of my autistic condition and CPTSD. 

Despite this, staff failed to adjust their approach or provide reasonable accommodations. This raises questions about whether Tesco genuinely values inclusivity or simply uses the lanyard scheme as a superficial gesture. 

A diagnosis card is a recognised, official means of communicating hidden disabilities and should have been treated with respect and understanding.

Secondly, your assertion that my actions caused “fear and alarm” among staff unfairly shifts blame onto me without fully acknowledging the context. My distress was a direct result of how Tesco staff handled the situation—failing to provide support, escalating tensions unnecessarily, and ultimately ejecting me from the store in a humiliating manner. 

It is disappointing that Tesco has chosen to focus on their staff’s perception of events without addressing how they contributed to the breakdown of the interaction.

I also find your remarks about “recovering from your mental health episode” to be patronising and inappropriate. 

My distress was not a random episode but a response to Tesco’s inadequate handling of a vulnerable customer. Such language minimises the seriousness of your staff’s failings and does not reflect an understanding of the impact this incident has had on me.

Lastly, while I appreciate the feedback to your training team, I would like a clearer explanation of what specific measures Tesco plans to take to prevent similar incidents. 

How will staff be trained to better recognise official diagnosis cards and respond to customers with hidden disabilities? 

A vague promise to “review” training is not enough to reassure me that meaningful changes will be made.

I ask Tesco to take this complaint more seriously by:

1. Providing a formal apology for the distress caused and the mishandling of the situation.

2. Outlining specific changes to your training programme to address the issues raised.

3. Reviewing the effectiveness of the sunflower lanyard scheme and how it is communicated to staff.

I hope to receive a more constructive response that demonstrates Tesco’s commitment to improving its practices and genuinely supporting customers with hidden disabilities.

Yours sincerely,

David Grant

In the 2023-2024 financial year, Tesco’s CEO, Ken Murphy, received a total remuneration of £9.93 million, which included a £3.4 million annual bonus linked to sales, profits, and individual objectives. 

Tesco employs approximately 300,000 staff.

Tesco PLC’s financial performance for the year ending February 2024 is detailed in its Annual Report. Key figures include:

• Revenue: £62.8 billion in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. (Statista)
• Operating Profit: £1.61 billion in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year, a 13% increase from the same period in the previous year. (The Times & The Sunday Times)
• Net Debt: Reduced by £212 million to £9.68 billion in the first half of the 2024/25 financial year. (The Times & The Sunday Times)
• Employees: Approximately 300,000 staff members. (Stock Analysis)

Detailed financial statements, including expenses and salaries, are available in Tesco’s Annual Report. (Tesco Community)

The Times & The Sunday Times

14th January 2025 – Dear Tesco Customer Services, Steve & Jon

The State of Tesco Extra, Irlam – A Call for Urgent Redevelopment

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with the Tesco Extra store in Irlam, located on Fairhills Industrial Estate. Having served the community since the 1970s, this store has failed to evolve with the times, leaving it outdated, uninspiring, and ultimately detrimental to the local area.

The birth of the internet has revolutionised how people shop, yet this store remains stagnant, a relic of a bygone era that fails to meet modern expectations. 

The oversized structure, poorly utilised spaces, and overall lack of vision, leave a stark impression: Tesco Extra Irlam is out of touch and poorly managed. This is not just a matter of aesthetics—it’s a direct reflection of the lack of care and investment in the community.

Specific areas of my new concerns include:

1. Uninspiring Environment: The store is dull, outdated, and uninviting. It lacks the creativity or modernisation necessary to draw customers in or make their shopping experience enjoyable.

2. Poorly Managed: It’s evident from reviews, word of mouth, and my personal experience that staff morale and training need significant improvement. Customers are often left feeling unwelcome and disregarded, as though their presence is a burden. Nobody bothers to reply or acknowledge the customer online. ?

3. Surveillance Culture: Rather than fostering a welcoming environment, the store’s heavy reliance on CCTV gives the impression that customers are viewed with suspicion. This atmosphere is not conducive to a positive shopping experience.

4. Neglect of Local Impact: The store’s lack of adaptation since its construction has had a negative impact on the local area. Its dominance and refusal to innovate have contributed to the decline of small businesses, which are essential to the community fabric.

This store is not only outdated but also damaging. Its failure to modernise, inspire, or even welcome customers leaves a stain on Tesco’s reputation in Irlam. 

A redevelopment is not just desirable—it’s essential. Tesco must acknowledge its role in shaping the communities it serves and invest in creating a store that reflects the needs and aspirations of its customers.

If you are unsure about the current state of the store, I urge you to review your CCTV footage. Observe the interactions, the layout, and the overall atmosphere, and you will see for yourself how uninviting and poorly managed this store has become.

The people of Irlam deserve better. Tesco has the resources and responsibility to transform this failing store into a space that serves, inspires, and respects the community. 

I urge you to take immediate action to address these issues and bring this store into the modern era.

I await your response.

Yours faithfully,

David Neil Bromley Grant

The poem I am referring to is from John Donne, specifically from his work “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions,” written in 1624. The famous lines are:

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were,

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s

Or of thine own were.

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.”

Meaning:

The poem conveys the idea of human interconnectedness. Donne suggests that no one is truly independent or isolated; instead, everyone is part of a larger whole, much like a small piece of land that is part of a continent. The loss of any person affects the rest of society because we are all connected. The reference to the “bell tolls” refers to the bell rung at funerals, symbolising the idea that the death of any individual should be felt by all because it reminds us of our own mortality and shared humanity.

The core message is that isolation is an illusion, and every person’s fate is linked to the fate of others. It encourages empathy, reminding us that each individual’s suffering or death impacts the whole of humanity, and we should care for one another as part of a collective whole.

The book.