Teacher scams Asda out of £3,000 worth of shopping with discount code loophole

Kirsti Reynolds used the code to reduce the cost of her trolley to just a penny.

A teacher who used a discount code to scam Asda out of nearly £3,000 worth of shopping has avoided a ban from the profession.

Kirsti Reynolds discovered a code which reduced items to just 1p, and exploited the loophole at the self-checkout over several visits to different branches of the supermarket in February and March 2023.

She would apply the code for rotisserie chicken to her entire trolley, racking up discounts of £1,030.77 in one store and £1,700 in a second.

She admitted to fraud by false representation, and was given a 12-month community order, and another order to pay back the supermarket, at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court, the Mirror reports.

At the time of her offending, Reynolds was teaching at Prudhoe West Academy in Prudhoe, Northumberland. Her case was examined by a panel from the Teacher Regulation Agency following her conviction.

It acknowledged she had committed a serious breach of professional standards, but decided not to suspend or ban her from teaching.

The report stated that it was clear she had shown remorse and taken responsibility for her actions, as well as reflected on the consequences for her family, colleagues and the profession. It also noted there was no evidence pupils had been put at risk.

The panel was also satisfied she had taken steps to mitigate a similar situation reoccurring.

Decision maker Marc Cavey said: "I have concluded that a prohibition order is not proportionate or in the public interest. While the misconduct found in this case was undoubtedly serious, and is likely to damage the reputation of the profession, I do not think that preventing Ms Reynolds from working as a teacher would serve any useful purpose.

"I consider therefore that the publication of the findings made would be sufficient to send an appropriate message to the teacher as to the standards of behaviour that were not acceptable and that the publication would meet the public interest requirement of declaring proper standards of the profession."