A DISABLED man who had money snatched by a thief at a cashpoint inside a supermarket is calling for the store to compensate him.

Mark Rusling, 59, claims staff told him the suspect was banned from the shop and shouldn’t have been allowed in the store.

Mr Rusling was withdrawing £40 from an ATM in the Co-op in Western Road, Hove, when he was distracted by a woman who then snatched his cash from the machine.

He said: “She came up to me when I was using the cash machine and just as I was about to take my card out she said ‘Do you think I should buy this spatchcock chicken?’

“I said ‘It is reduced a little but not that cheap’, and then I took my card and took my shopping from the top of the machine before going to the checkout and realising I didn’t have my £40.”

Mr Rusling said the woman he suspects of taking his money is a known street drinker.

He said he has complained to the Co-op and the owners of the ATM, Cashzone, to recover the money but has not been compensated.

He said: “I’m disabled and on benefits.

“Losing that money has made things very difficult and has put me under tremendous pressure.

“I think the Co-op should give me the money back.

“They should not have allowed her in as she is barred.

“Staff told me they don’t know why she was in there in the first place.”

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “We have a record of a report on March 15 of a theft of £40 cash from a member of the public who had just had it provided by the ATM at that location.

“Enquiries were made including checking of CCTV but no arrest.”

Mr Rusling claims after police reviewed the CCTV they told him it was too blurry to identify the suspect.

In December, the Western Road Co-op store agreed to ban any cheap beer, lager and cider above six per cent alcohol volume from its shelves in a bid to deter street drinkers.

It emerged shoplifters had struck in the shop 40 times in just two months.

The store’s managers were said to be increasingly frustrated with the lack of police presence after brazen thieves strolled into the store and took alcohol from under the noses of helpless and frightened staff, a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting in October heard.

A spokeswoman for The Southern Co-operative said: “We are sorry to hear about Mr Rusling’s monetary loss.

“We are happy to co-operate with Sussex Police on any investigation into this issue.”

When asked by The Argus how Mr Rusling was suppose to recover the money, The Southern Co-operative declined to comment.

A spokesman for Cashzone also declined to comment.