The North East has been hardest hit by the rise in shoplifting out of a list of hotspots in England and Wales, according to new research.
Locations in the area feature disproportionately in the 25 municipalities worst impacted by the wave of retail crime, the analysis shows.
Westminster is the single district with the highest number of reported thefts, heading the list with an average of 16.64 crimes per 1,000 head of population annually.
The London borough has a population of 102,330 but also huge footfall as the country’s flagship shopping district encompassing Oxford Street and the West End.
Lincoln came second, with 15.23 crimes per 1,000 head of population, followed by Hartlepool, Worthing, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Adur, Mansfield, Dartford and Bassetlaw.
Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Wakefield, Stockton-on-Tees, Newcastle and north-east Lincolnshire also appear in the top 25, drawn from three years of official data.
The picture follows on from research showing a 27% increase in retail crime and a £2.8 billion loss from customer theft in the last financial year, which is described as ‘the tip of the iceberg’ by the British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira).
While opinion is divided as to the reasons for the spike, the North East regions are also some of the most deprived in the UK.
Hartlepool ranks as the fifth most income-deprived local authority in England out of 316 locations, according to the most recent Office of National Statistics (ONS) data.
Middlesbrough is at the top of the list, the figures for 2019 show.
Cameron Jaques, business insurance expert at money.co.uk, which extracted the data, traced a link between soaring levels of retail crime and the increases in household bills and prices at the tills.
‘The cost of living crisis is affecting us all,’ he said.
‘With the cost of food and basic necessities continuing to rise, it’s not surprising that shoplifting is on the rise as well as large segments of the UK’s population struggle to afford essential everyday items.
‘With the North East of England having the highest poverty rate of all the regions and Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Newcastle upon Tyne being in the top 25 UK shoplifting hotspots, it’s safe to think there’s a correlation.
‘If the cost of living crisis is here to stay, it’s likely that supermarkets and retailers will have to deal with shoplifting as a regular occurrence.’
Retailers may be driven out of business or towards Argo-style shopping models due to the tide of shoplifting, Bira told Metro.co.uk this week.
Although it acknowledged that the government has taken steps to combat the problem, CEO Andrew Goodacre warned further action is needed before the situation ‘spirals out of control’.
‘If the tide of thefts is not contained we will see business owners close because losing stock is the same as losing cash,’ he said.
‘In convenience stores, the margins are too small to withstand the cost of stock losses at these levels.
‘Other changes, and some of these have already happened, will be shops operating a closed-door policy by appointment only, replacing products on shelves with dummy products, investing in better CCTV and body cameras for staff and reduced hours.
‘Ultimately, we may well see shops adopting the Argos model where stock is kept in a storeroom and people order items from a catalogue.’
Shopkeepers have spoken out in recent weeks of being physically attacked, including with weapons, by unwelcome visitors to their stores.
Iceland boss Richard Walker said thieves have been armed with hammers, knives and even hypodermic syringes as they target the chain’s branches.
In the backdrop to the ugly scenes are the British Retail Consortium figures showing that retail crime incidents increased by 27% across 10 of the UK’s largest cities in the 12 months to July 2023.
The trade association has also found that violence and abuse toward workers soared from around 455 incidents per day in 2019 to 2020 to more than 850 a day last year.
‘The recent research is just reported crimes so it is probably the tip of the iceberg,’ Mr Goodacre said.
‘Further research in Scotland indicates that retailers, especially in food and drink, experience a theft of something every day.
‘Examples include wine, nappies, clothing and DIY tools, it stretches across almost every product category.’
The rising scourge of retail crime has generally been blamed on the cost of living crisis and on organised crime gangs, with differing views on which is the overriding factor.
‘There has always been shop theft, often driven by perennial perpetrators with addictions,’ Mr Goodacre said.
‘This current epidemic definitely has an organized crime element to it, and the cost of living crisis may well have increased the black market for goods.
‘But the real cause is the fact that criminals have realized that shop theft is a low-risk, high-reward crime after years of the problem being treated as a low priority by the relevant officials.’
Speaking ahead of Safer Business Action Week beginning October 16, Mr Goodacre acknowledged government efforts to tackle the problem.
‘Steps have already been taken by the government, and shop theft and associated violence have been placed higher up the police agenda,’ he said.
‘We need to ensure that there are consequences for the criminals and we need to dismantle the black markets for the products.
‘Listening to small retailers, all they would like to see is greater police presence on the high streets – either police officers or PCSOs.
‘There are some good examples, such as in Sussex, and these “wins” need to be shared and replicated before the problem spirals out of control.’
The Bira report found that 56% of retailers feel the police response is ‘fair’, although ‘many’ said there was no point reporting violence or abuse due to a lack of response or difficulties contacting their force.
Inderjit Ayedee, a store manager at the Tech Outlet in Tottenham Court Road, Westminster, told Metro.co.uk: ‘On occasion we have had incidents but luckily nothing major. We know from speaking to other traders that the problem has got worse and the people doing it are a lot younger.
‘There’s only so much you can do because at the end of the day the product still has to be visible to the customer.
‘You can’t chase after and grab shoplifters because the law has changed, it’s softened shall we say. The way the system is there’s no point reporting a theft under the value of £200 as nothing will happen, it’s a ridiculous situation. The West End has always been a target for thieves and the rising level of retail crime is just the way society is going.’
The money.co.uk map drew on crime data collated from police forces between August 2020 and July 2023, the longest timeframe publicly available, and population figures from the ONS. Greater Manchester was not included due to police data collection issues, the researchers said.
Amanda Blakeman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for acquisitive crime, said: ‘Retail crime has a damaging impact and we are committed to tackling offenders and supporting retailers in reducing shoplifting and attacks on retail staff. Violent offences will never be tolerated and we prioritise our policing response where there is a risk to individuals.
‘We know that organised crime is responsible for a proportion of these offences and we welcome the collaboration between retailers, police and crime commissioners and policing through Project Pegasus, which enhances our ability to identify and tackle the groups involved.
‘Centralising our intelligence about organised retail crime enables us to target resources where they can be most effective and alongside our close working with industry and government as part of a national task force, we are tackling the issue from all perspectives.’
Ms Blakeman added: ‘Organised crime is of course only part of the problem and we continue to target those prolific and habitual offenders whose behaviour causes misery and takes profit from our communities and retailers. Local police forces assess each report through a threat, harm and risk model to determine their response and will deploy resources where they can be most effective in catching offenders and keeping people safe.’
The Home Office is also involved in Project Pegasus, a police crackdown on shoplifting due to receive £600,000 from 10 supermarkets and retailers
A spokesperson said: ‘Shoplifting strikes at the heart of the British high street, and the policing minister has asked forces to take a zero-tolerance approach to this crime and pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry.
‘We are working with businesses and the police, including supporting Project Pegasus which will enable retailers to share better information on shoplifting with police forces and build up a national strategic picture, helping to crack down on serious offenders across the country.’
MORE : Shop owner losing £1,500 a month in ‘epidemic’ of teenage shoplifting
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