UK businesses ask for help after rise in shoplifting

LONDON, Oct 11 (AFP): British businesses are seeking government help as shops suffer an unprecedented number of thefts and violence by criminal gangs, addicts and people struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.
"We see shoplifting everyday here, sometimes multiple times a day," laments Pravin Kharel, the 28-year-old manager of a Sainsbury's food store in London.
The British Retail Consortium says shoplifting is up 27 per cent this year in ten of the country's largest cities, a phenomenon affecting also the United States and France, which suffered a 15-per cent rise in 2022.
The situation in Britain has caused the BRC to demand that police and local mayors do more to protect retail workers. Following this, 88 bosses of UK retailers, including the heads of supermarket giant Tesco, Boots pharmacy chain and stationery business WHSmith, jointly wrote to the government, demanding measures to tackle the fallout.
"We are writing to ask you to take action to support our colleagues who continue to face unacceptable levels of violence and abuse, amid a rise in theft, much of it organised crime, and anti-social behaviour which in many cases are the root cause of violent incidents," read the letter addressed to Britain's interior minister, Suella Braverman.
Kharel estimates that losses to his store total about £250 ($305) per week. The Association of Convenience Stores says supermarket thefts hit a record-high last year in the UK at 1.1 million incidents. The most stolen items were meat, alcohol and confectionery, added the ACS, which represents more than 33,500 shops.
Its latest crime report stated that 79 per cent of represented retailers believed the cost-of-living crisis had caused an increase in theft.