Overview
- A Gateshead shopper filmed an employee using a vacuum cleaner on the top of a coffee machine and left the Durham Road branch without buying anything.
- The clip was posted to TikTok and quickly went viral, drawing more than 600,000 interactions across the platform.
- Greggs issued a public statement saying the equipment shown is not used for floor cleaning and that the footage does not reflect normal procedures.
- Social media accounts claiming to be Greggs staff defended the practice by saying vacuums are used only to clear coffee beans or hopper jams rather than to clean floors.
- The episode has raised fresh hygiene concerns for a major national bakery chain and highlights how a short social video can rapidly damage customer trust even before any formal inspection or disciplinary outcome is reported.