According to a survey conducted for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) by the market research firm Opinium, a significant number of Britons have witnessed shoplifting and physical or verbal abuse of shop workers over the past year. Nottingham was identified as a hotspot for retail crime, with 32% of residents reporting witnessing shoplifting, closely followed by London at 29%. Southampton, Leeds, and Manchester also experienced higher rates of shop theft compared to the national average, while Liverpool, Brighton, and Sheffield reported less.
On average, 24% of the 2,000 respondents had witnessed shoplifting, and 23% had witnessed the physical or verbal abuse of shop workers. These figures come after retailers claimed that crime in their stores was “spiralling out of control,” with 55,000 thefts occurring daily and violent and abusive incidents increasing by 50% last year. Over 70 incidents per day involved a weapon, according to the BRC’s annual crime survey.
Verbal and physical attacks, violent threats, and sexual and racial abuse in shops surged to more than 2,000 incidents per day in the year ending August, up from 1,300 the previous year and more than three times the 2020 level. A separate survey by Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union, found that 77% of retail staff experienced abuse, 53% threats, and 10% assault.
The BRC’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson, stated that witnessing theft or abuse has become a common part of the shopping experience for many people. While incidents may be brief, they can have lifelong consequences for those who experience them, discouraging them from visiting local high streets. Criminals are becoming bolder and more aggressive, and decisive action is needed to address the issue.
The rise in shoplifting is partly attributed to the financial strain on households due to high inflation in recent years. However, retailers also believe it is related to organized gangs stealing to order. They argue that the retail sector has been seen as a soft target since a 2014 law change in England and Wales, which typically spares those stealing goods worth less than £200 from prison terms or a maximum six-month custodial sentence.
Big retailers have also been accused of contributing to the rise in crime by reducing staff numbers in stores to cut costs. They are also using more self-service checkouts and self-scanning devices, which are susceptible to abuse.
The BRC claims that retailers spent an additional £1.8 billion on crime prevention measures such as CCTV, security personnel, anti-theft devices, and body-worn cameras last year. The government has proposed legislation to tackle shoplifting, including removing the £200 threshold for “low-level” theft and introducing a standalone offense of assaulting a retail worker. The BRC also wants the law to be extended to protect delivery drivers, similar to the Workers Protection Act in Scotland.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/13/nearly-one-in-four-britons-have-witnessed-shoplifting-study-shows
