New Merlin partnership turns shopping into family tickets. Sainsbury's Nectar members can now double the value of their points on tickets for various Merlin attractions (Image: Merlin) Parents scrambling for May half-term ideas may not need to travel far this year after a new "25 miles of adventure" map revealed families can visit some of the UK's biggest attractions all within easy reach of each other. From rollercoasters and PAW Patrol rides to the London Eye and Madame Tussauds, Merlin Entertainments is bringing together eight major attractions into one giant family-friendly adventure zone running throughout half term from May 23 to 31. This comes as Sainsbury's has launched a new partnership between Nectar and Merlin Entertainments, allowing shoppers to turn everyday grocery points into discounted tickets for some of the UK's biggest attractions. This includes Alton Towers Resort, LEGOLAND Windsor Resort, Thorpe Park, and the London Eye. Fun Rainy Day Activities for Kids The new family savings trick parents are spotting. And the biggest surprise for families is that Nectar points will now be worth double their normal value when redeemed through the deal. That means £5 worth of Nectar points instantly becomes £10 off tickets. The new partnership covers more than 20 Merlin attractions across the UK, including: * Chessington World of Adventures Resort * SEA LIFE London Aquarium * Warwick Castle * Cadbury World * Madame Tussauds London * The London Dungeon Families simply open the Nectar app, select the Merlin offer and book directly through the dedicated redemption page. The move comes as Merlin launches a major push for May half-term, with new attractions including the World of PAW Patrol at Chessington and late-night Thorpe Park openings already creating online buzz. Other ways to save. Alternatively, non-Nectar customers can purchase a London multi-attraction ticket from £49pp and add on additional attractions to their visit. Multi-attraction tickets can be purchased from any of the London attraction's websites. * Chessington World of Adventures Resort tickets start from £32pp when booked online. Chessington World of Adventures short breaks during May half term start from £73pp based on Bed & Breakfast with two adults and two children under 15 years staying in a standard bedroom in the Safari Hotel. Book both day tickets and short breaks online at www.chessington.com. * LEGOLAND Windsor Resort tickets start at £32pp when booked online. LEGOLAND Adventure Golf tickets start from £8pp per round. LEGOLAND(R) Windsor Resort short breaks during May half term start from £127pp based on two adults and two children staying in Woodland Village Lodge. Book both day tickets and short breaks online at www.legoland.co.uk. * Thorpe Park tickets start at £32pp when booked online. Thorpe Park short breaks during May half term start from £89pp based on four people sharing a standard room. Book both day tickets and short breaks online at www.thorpepark.com. * Shrek's Adventure! London tickets start at £21pp when booked online at www.shreksadventure.com. * SEA LIFE London Aquarium tickets start at £28pp when booked online at www.visitsealife.com. * London Eye tickets start at £29pp when booked online at www.londoneye.com. Why families could save hundreds on Merlin attractions. With ticket prices for major attractions climbing sharply in recent years, many families have started searching for loyalty point tricks and supermarket reward hacks to cut costs. The new Nectar partnership effectively turns routine food shopping into discounted family experiences - something experts say could become increasingly popular during the cost-of-living squeeze. A family using £25 worth of Nectar points, for example, could now receive £50 off attraction tickets. Merlin says the partnership is designed to make attractions more affordable and accessible for families across the UK. Recommended reading: Attractions included in the deal. The partnership includes: * Alton Towers Resort * Thorpe Park * LEGOLAND Windsor * Chessington World of Adventures * The London Eye * SEA LIFE aquariums * Warwick Castle * Cadbury World * Madame Tussauds * The London Dungeon Stan Swinton, Merlin's Chief Growth Officer, said the deal comes at the perfect time, with major new launches including Bluey attractions at Alton Towers and the new PAW Patrol-themed area at Chessington. Will you be making use of this deal to visit some attractions? Let us know in the comments.

Sacked for saving the Champagne: Sainsbury's fires 15-year veteran for confronting violent shoplifter. Gary MacArthur, who worked as a shop assistant at a Sainsbury's in West Wickham, south-east London, for 15 years, was fired in March after an altercation with a bottle-throwing shoplifter in December 2025. Despite the store's security guard having collapsed earlier, Gary was dismissed for gross misconduct for failing to follow Sainsbury's guidance on "prevent\[ing] incidents". The supermarket had previously given him a written warning and extra training on this policy. His dismissal letter, seen by LBC, stated that even though the shoplifter threw glass bottles at his colleagues, Gary should have acted only as a "visual deterrent". "The job was my life, really," Gary said tearfully. "I don't have much. The friends that I do have are generally my work colleagues... Apart from that... I've got five fish tanks and two snakes, and that's pretty much me." The incident happened over an hour after his shift was meant to end. After the store's security guard suffered a suspected stroke, Gary agreed to stay late to help the all-female team feel safer. "My security guard started at 1pm and he didn't seem right," Gary recalled. "Around 2:30, he had a stroke on the shop floor. Me and another colleague were the first at his scene, did a bit of CPR and called the ambulance." "I finish at 9pm, \[and] as I go to take my headpiece off, I've got all the girls screaming in my ear going 'come down, we've got an aggressive Champagne thief.'" The shoplifter was a repeat offender known locally for stealing high-end bottles of Moët, Bollinger, and Veuve Clicquot. Aware of the thief's aggressive reputation, Gary confronted the man and escorted him from the store. He found a bag of stolen bottles, which he brought inside. By the time Gary returned, the shoplifter was back in the store smashing bottles, throwing two towards his manager and a colleague. As the thief grabbed four more bottles, a customer blocked his path with a trolley. Gary and the customer then restrained the man until the police arrived. Three months later, Gary was dismissed for gross misconduct. His appeal in early April was unsuccessful. The company decided his actions had escalated the situation. This wasn't the first time. In August 2025, Gary received a written warning after challenging a thief. He insists he "can't let it go" when he sees someone breaking the law, and once lost teeth after being punched while stopping a theft. "It's not even thieving these days - it's pure looting," Gary said. "People see it and they don't do anything... There is no civic duty." Gary's case is one of several where shopworkers have been fired for confronting thieves. Last month, Sean Egan was sacked by Morrisons after nearly 30 years for tackling a repeat offender. Usdaw, the retail workers' union, told LBC it doesn't comment on individual cases but urged supermarket bosses to use discretion when employees breach policies while confronting shoplifters. General secretary Joanne Thomas said, "We know how difficult and frightening it can be for staff... we recognise that being told to stand back can be frustrating... We would not expect management to rush to a dismissal if there has been a breach of policy... Usdaw would seek for our members to be given additional support, mentoring and training." Shoplifting in the UK has hit record highs, with over 500,000 cases annually. In a recent speech, the prime minister said the "tide could be turning," citing a 17% increase in criminal charges. Major retailers are now using facial recognition technology to help police identify offenders. Although Gary has found a new job, he says he has lost out financially and emotionally. "I got to know people on a heartfelt and family-like basis... There was a real sense of love and loyalty for me and the colleagues and customers." "I know my confidence will be hurt by this, but give me time - my love for work will never change." A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We are seeing incidents of violence, aggression and theft happening in our stores on a daily basis... We are responding by investing in extra security measures... not asking our colleagues to put their safety on the line by tackling offenders. That's why our guidance to colleagues on responding to retail crime prioritises keeping everyone in our stores safe and is specifically designed to prevent incidents from escalating." Source - LBC Discover more Food & Grocery Retailers Mass Merchants & Department Stores

Major UK supermarkets join forces to close food gap. 24 Apr 2026 M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose are spearheading a joint fundraising campaign this month to support distribution of repurposed food waste to those in need. The campaign is being organised through the Alliance Food Sourcing (AFS) coalition, and aims to help charities overcome the ongoing challenge of securing enough food to keep up with demand. According to AFS, 4.6 million tonnes of food goes to waste across the UK's food supply chain every year, due to things like defective packaging or when companies switch over production runs. Often, however, surplus food is in large or unpackaged formats which are not easily usable by charities. The businesses involved in AFS, therefore, are working to change this. The food industry's push to 'rescue' edible food. Work is also focused on identifying, rescuing, and repurposing edible food waste throughout the supply chain. Companies are repacking bulk quantities of food waste and bringing together raw ingredients to make meals. M&S and 2 Sisters Food Group, for example, have partnered to make pizzas and ready meals using surplus line capacity and Tesco and Sainsbury's are working with partners to produce cottage pies and ready meals. There is also ongoing work to salvage by-product during production. UK supplier Barfoot, for example, is recovering sweet potato and squash 'rubble' produced during the dicing process, Premier Foods is recovering and rescuing dried noodle waste, Waitrose is working with its pasta supplier Daybreak to rescue pasta off-cuts, Charlie Bighams is capturing surplus sauces for catering charities, and Morrisons and Myton Food Group have made small changes to their grading process, redirecting 150 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables each year to charities. Importantly, efforts to rescue surplus food from the supply chain versus shelves means it can be distributed much more effectively and consistently, said Paul Baines, supply manager at The Felix Project and FareShare. "The AFS programme gives us the rare opportunity to plan, as we know what volumes we'll be receiving. We don't usually get that level of visibility, and it has a much longer shelf-life than the surplus food we primarily work with." Ambitious targets for 2028. Wheeler said AFS has "ambitious targets" for the next two years, as efforts continue across food and retail supply chains. Beyond April's major fundraising campaign, and others like it, the AFS wants to rescue the equivalent of 30 million meals a year from the manufacturing sector by 2028, he said. As of 2026, the coalition has already secured more than 14 million meals worth of food thanks to widespread and ongoing support, but help is still needed. "We need food companies, suppliers, and retailers on board to help us," Wheeler said. Nicky Robinson, director of AFS, said that whilst it is great to see so many leading food businesses already coming together, more involvement can scale impact. "The opportunity to do good is vast," Robinson said. "By partnering up, thousands of tonnes of good, surplus food are already being rescued from the food supply chain, reducing waste and providing meals for the most vulnerable in our society-often by making relatively simple changes." Food waste and hunger: 'let's make a meal of it' The "Let's make a meal of it" campaign will see the five retail majors passing the campaign baton to one another for the month of April, encouraging in-store and online customers to donate to help fight hunger across the UK. Every £1 (€1.14) raised will provide five meals for people in need, with money used via UK charities The Felix Project and FareShare that work with 8,000 smaller, frontline charities and community groups. Money will be spent on sourcing and redistributing meals from surplus food, including to children at youth clubs or during school holidays and people experiencing loneliness who can meet others over a shared meal. In the UK today, 11 million people go hungry; three million of whom are children, according to charity data. Speaking about the campaign, Joshua Wheeler, senior programme manager at The Felix Project and FareShare, said: "It's fantastic that there is this level of collaboration across the food industry. Companies of all shapes and sizes are built to compete but when they collectively collaborate on issues like this, then together they can make such a huge impact," he told Ingredients Network. Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury's and president of the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD), said: "We believe that good food should be for everyone and are proud of our continued involvement in this campaign. It shows how working together as an industry can help drive meaningful change and tackle food poverty." Wheeler added: "Millions of people are really struggling to afford enough food, and at the same time tonnes of edible food is being wasted in the food manufacturing sector. Alliance Food Sourcing is trying to do something about this."