South Tyneside man who owes courts £20k in metro fines banned from every Tesco after assaulting employee

Gavin Thomas’s giant debt was revealed when he appeared before borough magistrates to admit the assault by beating attack and charges of drug possession and theft. Thomas, 40, of Glenside, Hedworth Estate, Jarrow, has racked up the money mainly from fines for non-payment of rides on the Tyneside Metro rail service.

But he also has a criminal record of 47 previous convictions from 81 offences for drug, theft and assault offences dating back to 2001. For his latest crime, he swung a punch at a worker at Tesco’s store in Whiteleas Way, Whiteleas, South Shields, at 6.40pm on Saturday, September 13.

Prosecutor Rehana Haque said he missed but then shoulder charged his victim in making off with £70 of chocolates and dishwasher tablets. When arrested 26 minutes later, he was found in possession of 27 tablets of class C prohibited drug pregabalin.

Magistrates adjourned his case for a drug treatment support assessment and granted him bail on condition he does not enter any Tesco outlet. Mrs Haque said: “The defendant entered the store and selected items which he then put in a green bag for life.

“He was approached by a member of staff who tried to reclaim the bag and the items. He tried to throw a punch but missed but then used his arms to push him out of the way and ran to the exit, making no attempt to pay.

“At 7.06pm he was stopped by police and cautioned and arrested and searched. He was found to be in possession of two blister packs of pregabalin. With the assault, there was no injury and it’s lesser culpability and lower-level harm or distress, but it is aggravated by the fact it was against a worker in the public sector.”

The court heard Thomas has committed six offences against the person since 2001, as well as 17 thefts and four drug possession crimes. He was last before a court in June for being drunk and disorderly, for which he was sentenced to a six-month conditional discharge.

Alastair Naismith, defending, said: “He is in breach of that conditional discharge due to these offences. These are offences somewhat out of character for Mr Thomas. He tells me that he missed his methadone script on the Thursday.

“The attempted punch was a swing, and he has then shouldered into him. It was just a barge out of the shop. He is sorry for his actions and understands it was a shop worker just doing his job. He didn’t mean him any harm.

“In 2022 there was a community order imposed for an ABH assault. He breached that order, which led to a custodial sentence.”

The clerk of the court confirmed Thomas owed £20,571. Magistrates adjourned the case to the same court on Tuesday, November 4. They granted Thomas bail also on condition he resides at his home address and cooperates with the Probation Service.