A homeless man was left “frustrated and upset” after finding boxes of discarded shoes cut up outside an upmarket London shop - he believes so they could not be used.
At least two boxes of cut-up shoes were discovered outside Ecco’s store in Covent Garden, including a pair of long women’s boots that had been “sliced from top to bottom,” on Wednesday.
Consultant Dan Barker who witnessed the incident, told the Standard there were at least 10 pairs of cut up shoes in one of the boxes and added it “seems a shame” that the shoes were scrapped when they could have possibly been redistributed.
Recalling the incident, the Londoner explained: “I could see there was a guy going through the boxes there, obviously quite frustrated and upset. I asked him if he was okay and what was going on.
“He started pulling the shoes rapidly out of the box showing me each of them was cut up, which I was kind of surprised about.
“He was obviously upset about this… They were all cut up, specifically so they can’t be used," Mr Barker continued. “He was saying ‘I can’t use them. They are all cut up.’”
Pairs of men’s trainers were found cut along the side with one shoe appearing to still have a label attached.
But the store’s manager told the Standard that it is company policy that shoes that can not be reused are cut up and scrapped.
He said: “They are faulty shoes. They can not be resold and therefore are scrapped.”
A store worker at the Covent Garden said it would be “disrespectful” to give homeless people damaged goods.
She said: “The shoes that we actually cut up either have a crack with them on the sole or customers brought them back because there’s something wrong inside.
“So you can’t pass them on. Also for hygiene reasons you can’t really do that.
“If you are going to give something to the homeless it should be brand new. It shouldn’t be people’s cast offs.”
