Garry Knight isn't laughing after being pranked at Coles

After watching the Wodonga Bulldogs take on Wangaratta Rovers on Saturday, Garry Knight called into Coles at the Wodonga Plaza on the way home.

He had just put pet food in his basket when a young man, aged 17 to 18, approached holding his stomach in great discomfort, asking Mr Knight if he knew where the toilet was.

"He was looking a bit dazed and I was concerned about my personal safety," Mr Knight said.

"He was giving the impression that he may have been on drugs.

"He then proceeded to go through the motions of vomiting into my shopping basket.

"I began to take several steps away from him, when he proceeded to stand erect and laugh at me.

"He then looked behind me and said, 'did you get that?'

"I was scared and had no idea what was happening, and I turned around to see another young man with a phone up to his face, clearly videoing the event.

"I am not sure what I said then, but the first young man said 'don't worry, it's only a prank'."

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But it wasn't just a prank for Mr Knight, it was an incident that stirred up his depression and anxiety, leaving him agitated for days after.

"I was extremely stressed out by it," he said.

"I suffer from anxiety and depression, have so for over 10 years, and these sorts of things can throw me a bit.

"Nobody needs to be harassed like that when they're just doing their shopping."

Mr Knight complained to Coles staff about the incident and hoped that security could escort the perpetrators out, but they had left before security arrived.

He has launched a formal complaint to Coles, and is working with lawyers to try and get the security camera footage in order to identify the youths.

"I'm not so fussed about what Coles do, but what I want is to make sure these young blokes don't do it again to anyone else," he said.

Mr Knight thinks the video will go on social media and join the other thousands of prank videos that young people post on sites like Tic Tok, Facebook and Instagram.

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