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£205m cost of shoplifting

30/10/2007

The total value of goods stolen from British shops has reached a ten-year high, according to a new report.

Over the past year goods worth £205 million were stolen from retailers in cases where the shoplifting was detected, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The retail trade association says the figure represents an 8.5 per cent rise on the previous year, when goods valued at a total of £189 million were stolen from stores in cases of reported theft.

But the BRC's annual crime survey estimates that the total value of products stolen is likely to be far higher, with losses due to undetected customer theft likely to have brought this year's figure closer to £830 million.

The number of detected incidents of shoplifting has also risen by almost three per cent year-on-year, according to the study. There were almost 40 incidents of detected theft per store least year, also the highest level for a decade.

But the report, which says previous research indicates that around 75 per cent of losses go undetected, claims many retailers are "extremely aggrieved" that retail crime is treated lightly by the authorities – a fact it says has led to the underreporting of incidents by shopkeepers.

It also claims that shop staff are increasingly being attacked, with incidents of physical violence against retail workers up 50 per cent over the last year and threats of violence also more than double the level previously reported.

Commenting on the figures BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: "Last year shop staff were subjected to around half a million incidents of abuse or violence in their work places and retailers clocked up even greater losses to theft. It’s clear the current approach is not working.

"The government and law enforcers must stop believing retail crime as victimless and committed by harmless petty criminals," he added, claiming that most shop thieves were driven by drug addiction and were "certainly responsible" for other crimes.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said police-recorded crime figures had shown a one per cent drop last year.

But he said the government was committed to working with retailers "to effectively tackle the problem" and said surveys and initiatives were being undertaken to assess the extent of the problem.

“Shop theft is not a victimless crime and the abuse of retail staff should never be accepted as an occupational hazard," he said.