A VIDEO has been shared on social media showing shop staff forcefully restraining a man who appeared to have been shoplifting.

The video was filmed near Head Street in Colchester on Saturday, at about 4.30pm.

It shows staff from Sports Direct chasing after a man carrying a large bag.

There is an altercation where the man tries to stop two male members of staff taking his bag from him.

A female member of staff then comes out of the shop to join them, outside Nandos.

The man with the bag wraps his arm around one member of staff’’s neck to try and move him out of the way, and a a tussle breaks out.

The man tries to kick one member of staff, but then the female member of staff kicks the man in the groin area.

One of the males then grabs the man by the neck and pushes him with some force up against the wall.

They managed to pull the bag from his hands and the man stalks off down Church Street.

The staff manage to retrieve the bag which contains a number of carrier bags and a pair of trousers.

Questions have been raised over whether the members of staff were right to restrain the shoplifter in this way, and whether they were acting too harshly.

One person commented on the video, saying : “As much he deserves to be caught out, Sports Direct staff are in no way, shape or form allowed, or even trained to be doing what they did.

“Yes it’s a good thing for loss prevention, but not in the manner they apprehended him.”

The video has now had 63,543 views on Facebook.

We contacted Essex Police, but there is no record of the incident and there have been no reports from the public on the actions of the staff.

We contacted the Sports Direct press department for a comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.