Storm clouds are gathering over Aldridge. Not literally — the Saturday sky is a deep blue and the sun beats down on the tarmac of the Morrisons car park. But the mood among those assembled is aggrieved. An injustice has occurred, and the crowd will not rest until it is righted. Or at least, they will not give Morrisons their custom.
"I won't use Morrisons again, not after how he was treated," pledges a middle-aged woman with cropped hair and a lilac hoodie. Nearby, a man dances in and out of the road, clad in a Union Jack blazer. Nearly 100 people have gathered to protest the firing of Sean Egan, who worked at the Aldridge branch from the age of 17 until December last year. Egan had climbed the ladder to become manager when he confronted Daniel Kendall, a man stealing two bottles of Jack Daniels.
According to Egan, he recognized Kendall, a prolific shoplifter, and confronted him. Kendall reportedly spat at the 46-year-old, and the situation escalated into an altercation. Egan told the BBC that his and Kendall's heads connected before the thief was bundled out of the store and arrested by police. This led to Egan's dismissal. Morrisons has a policy of "deter and not detain," meaning physical intervention with thieves is forbidden. His 29 years of service were no match for the rules, and he was let go after a disciplinary hearing.
However, amid a backdrop of supposed lawlessness and increased retail theft, Egan's case has become a cause célèbre. The car park now hosts people carrying homemade signs. One reads "Sean the hero, Morrisons the zero," while another says "Hero Sean." The woman in the lilac hoodie wonders aloud if she might be arrested, eyeing a police car circling the gathering. Another protester, too shy to start a chant, asks if The Dispatch might do it. "It would have to be three cheers for Sean," she says.
The man of the hour eventually appears and is treated like a local celebrity. Dressed in fluorescent trainers, having run across from Bilston to raise money for a local hospice, Egan dutifully makes his way through the crowd, receiving hugs and greetings wherever he turns. "I'm overwhelmed by the support," he tells them.
