ENGLAND – In what is being recognised as a dramatic fall from grace, former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Fred Goodwin has been stripped of his Tesco Clubcard.
The revoking of a Clubcard is very rare occurrence, but a company statement said that all points attained by the RBS boss have been “canceled and annulled” because Goodwin had brought the loyalty scheme into disrepute.
His Clubcard is due to be cut up on the advice of the Tesco executive board, who have historically only acted this ruthlessly when dealing with local businesses.
‘Your Clubcard is not accepted here’
Mr Goodwin had held the Tesco loyalty card since its introduction in 1995, but “after seeing what he did with RBS we can no longer trust him with our points,” condemned Tesco CEO Phillip Clarke.
The Tesco chief insisted Mr Goodwin had “broken the spirit of the Clubcard owners code of conduct if not the exact letter of it.”
“It’s true that the terms of service do not explicitly state that a card holder must not be responsible for the near collapse of an entire banking institution,” said Mr Clarke. “But there is a certain responsiblity expected of all Clubcard holders.”
He later added: “I bet he doesn’t even send vouchers for children into schools.”
RBS declined to comment on the decision to annul its former chief’s points tally.
However, former chancellor and current Clubcard holder Alistair Darling has led the backlash against it, saying: “We can’t just go around taking away people’s Clubcard willy nilly. It completely politicizes the loyalty card system.”
Privilege denied
Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the move and called it “the right decision” before suggesting he would not intervene should any other retailer wish to void the shamed banker’s loyalty cards.
“I have a Clubcard myself so I am all for companies using financial mechanisms to make more money from their customers, but there is a line that Fred crossed and we are seeing the consequences of his actions.”
In addition to Mr Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband also welcomed the move.
“It is right that Fred Goodwin is no longer a Clubcard holder,” said the Labour leader. “But I think it is only the start of the change we need to see. Does he have a Nectar card? What about a Marks and Sparks?”
“We need to make sure this man can never be allowed to benefit from loyalty schemes where ever he shops.”
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