I have mixed feelings about this. Today I witnessed someone stealing 3 bottles of spirits from Tescos.
I was in Tescos and noticed someone had 3 bottles of spirits in a basket and was prying the security tags off. I thought I was mistaken and wondered over a little closer and he looked up at me and then walked away around the corner to the next isle where I saw he put the bottles in his shoulder bag.
I walked back to security at the main entrance and mentioned this to the guard and I confirmed what the thief was wearing. I walked back as the thief walked past me. I turned around and faced the security officer who said hold on to him but the thief just walked through the barriers as if nothing had happened.
The security guard then walked back to his station at the front of the store as if nothing happened.
No thank you was offered, or acknowledgement!
Maybe again it’s an age thing but in the past I’ve always got involved with things like this and challenged these scum bags but that was many years ago.
I now regret mentioning it given the stance taken by Tescos staff. I appreciate that he may have a weapon etc etc
I will no doubt indirectly be paying for this theft with my weekly shopping which grates no end, however there is clearly no deterrent.
Maybe I could or should have walked out of the store with my shopping trolley full of goods without paying given how easy it was. Maybe a life of crime is the way!
Modern society is clearly on its way to hell.
B
wow - where is that? I'm too dim to work it out from your location info :)
If Tesco and their guard are not especially bothered I'm not sure you should risk your neck for them.. Not sure what Tesco would do if you got seriously injured trying to stop him, probably palm you off with some vouchers or points!
you tried to do the right thing.
c1996/7 I saw a ‘youth’ and his gf stealing Gillette razor blades from Tesco. Mentioned it to security who came over, they legged it, but they knew I had fessed them up. Security accompanied me to my car, just incase of reprisal.
Seems the courts and big retailers accept this behaviour and roll with it, handing out wrist slaps to offenders.
Career choice for some perhaps.
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Because no one ever shoplifted last century?Originally Posted by bomberman
Yeah, it's an awkward one, asking someone making minimum wage to risk their safety for a billion-pound corporation. And that's not even sarcasm - if I'd been on my feet for a shift, and I knew that confrontation would add a couple of hours to that, what with police reports, etc, would I stop them? Maybe I would. Spirits? No real excuse for that.
But don't forget, if you see someone shoplifting essentials or baby food, oh no you didn't.
Maybe he planned to sell the spirits to buy baby food and nappies? Every little helps.
It's for sterilising the baby bottles.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Back in 1993 I did a thankfully short stint as a security guard. Before I started we all did a 3 day course. In one of the lessons the instructor asked what we would do if we were onsite and a van full of guys with baseball bats pulled up, he pointed to me for an answer. Half jokingly I said I'd ask them how many sugars they wanted in their coffee before showing them the safe. After his polite obligatory chuckle he said I wasn't too far off the mark, but the real answer was not to confront them....ever.
As a security guard you are only there to provide the minimum legal cover for the premises owners and the minimum cover their insurers require.
It is commendable OP that you may want to do something about it, but please don't expect some guy who is only there because it is the only job he can get to feel the same. His family won't be as gratefull as Tesco's insurance company when he is punched senseless or worse by a shoplifter he apprehended on their behalf. It may sound like giving up and giving in, but it is how the world turns unfortunately.
Yes, where is that - in 'town', Princes Road or a smaller store? Mrs K works in one.
Not so long back I was in the Sainsburys in the town centre, where there was a scrote obviously fixing to steal some bottles of wine.
The Security guard - a middle-aged guy - was on to him and told him "don't even think about it", overtook him on his way to the exit and stood in the doorway blocking his way out.
The scrote just barged into the security guard, knocking him to the ground, and going down with him. A scuffle ensued, but the scrote managed to escape and ran off with the security guard in hot pursuit. The scrote got away, outrunning the security guard, who returned, dusting himself down, clearly shaken and a bit bruised and battered.
Why either of them went to such lengths over a couple of bottles of plonk mystifies me.
OP, the guards are outside companies, maybe you should report it to Tesco
Maybe the shoplifter was a friend of the guard...
Similar thing happened a few years ago to me. Shopping in Asda clothing section I saw a guy changing out his old clothes and putting in the new each time ripping off the tags. For the jeans he forgot to rip the sticker with the size on the back of the leg but he proceeded to the trainers section.
So I went and reported him and although there was a lot of looking round corners and scurrying around they did nothing.
Spoke to the guard who said his life was worth more than Ł20 worth of clothes.
Maybe it was kleptomania.
I saw a video of an M&S at a BP Garage in Corby where some locals were having a free for all. Now they have a security guard apparently (after the video went viral, obviously).
It wasn’t Richard Madeley was it?
I suppose some people have a sense of pride in their work even if they are making minimum wage.
That or had been given the quiet warning of interfering and they’d do him!
There are some not so nice people out there who, in their real world, don’t live in gardens that smell of roses.
J
I sometimes shop at the Morrisons in the town centre (Bolton) after work and I swear they have more security guards than cashiers. Every time I'm there I witness a confrontation, or the back end of one with police taking statements. The two closest pubs have big signs up saying "shoplifters not welcome, police will be informed" etc but 50% of the times I've been in, the local scrotes visit with bulging bags and are welcomed with open arms. Over Christmas it was gift sets and perfumes from boots and TK maxx, more often its bags full of meat (bacon and steak, usually) from morrosons and sainsburys.
In most cases I say live and let live, there are a lot of desperate people about. However BOTH of the supermarkets mentioned donate to homeless shelters and refuges, as well as donating ready bagged meals to pretty much anyone who can't afford to eat. The shoplifters I see are doing it to fund a drug habit, and make little secret of it.
At the end of the day, all that shoplifting does is push the prices up for law abiding people. Supermarkets allow for it.
Nobody will/can do anything until the offender is off the stores premises
My local Aldi definately has a zero tolerance policy towards shoplifters. Twice I've seen three of the staff leg it after someone who has nicked something & every time they have brought them back. These are the normal staff as well, not security guards.
It's all on CCTV, so they have the pics as evidence. No need for confrontation, they will just ban them from the store, eventually!
FYI there is a manager for every two aisles or so in Tesco and they are all over the place in the store if you look properly.
Just tell any of them about it
Our local tescos now have all the spirits in metal mesh bags with security tags it just used to be the Ł50 whiskey
Back when I was at university I did a stint as a plain clothes ‘store detective’ at Tescos in Northampton and would catch a couple of people, or groups of people, attempting to make off with goods they hadn’t made payment for every shift. We had a primitive radio system, colloquially known as ‘bleeps’ and I was often alone when making the citizens arrest and occasionally had to hit the emergency button to communicate my position and have every supervisor or manager get to me urgently. The security guards wouldn’t get involved and had been told their job wasn’t to step outside the store but to be more of a visual deterrent in store. Perhaps because the store was very close to sprawling estates, with easy escape routes and there was a halfway house nearby, shrinkage was a real problem. Shortly before I stopped working to focus on my studies, the store took on a group of red capped, brown shirted security guards that would absolutely get stuck in and there were more than a few brawls after traveller gangs had targeted the store and attempted to ‘push through’ trolleys full of spirits. Heady and exciting days but looking back, there were more than a few instances where it got pretty dangerous, such as one chap smashing the 2 litre bottle of whiskey he had attempted to stuff down his trousers and trying very hard to stab me with it or the group of youths who had made it to their car and were trying to drive off, foiled only by my reaching into the car and taking the keys out of the ignition, shortly followed by the entire management team running to my aid and surrounding the car. The store manager, a chap called Don Crouch was fully in agreement with all shoplifters being stopped, wherever possible, to the point of backing us if reasonable force had had to be used. As I was preparing to leave the job, things changed and safety concerns for staff and the risk of retribution from shoplifters lawyering up and suing the company started to have more of an influence so it is no surprise that security staff now appear to take less interest. It isn’t worth their safety and may well be part of their job description.
There were some people at university on my course who lived a stupid life (that they now admit to)
They'd squat in buildings all over central London. They'd steal all their food. They'd get utilities hooked up and obviously not pay the bill. They'd steal clothes. One couple got their friend involved in stealing clothes and that friend got her mum involved too!
I think there are stereotypes when we think of a thief but all of these people just didn't fit that stereotype. It was ages before the friend and her mum were caught stealing in top shop once and banned for life (not sure how you'd practically enforce that). I think everyone grew out of it eventually but they definitely stole thousands of pounds worth over the years. V sad.
my basic practice since ive got older is unless someones life is in danger dont get involved in anything that doesnt affect you directly.
Bacon one week, Rolex the next.
Most theft from retail is from employees isn't?
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My wife worked for a while at Tesco and the shoplifting got her really angry. She caught loads usually by spotting them and then following them around which generally put them off. The biggest one was some guys filled a trolley then one went into the toilets and set off the fire alarms. As the shop emptied they made ofv through a fire exit. Easy if you know how and have no scruples.
Last week I saw a couple stroll out of the shop, the alarm went off and the bloke kept walking without looking back leaving the woman at the exit with a bag of paid for shopping, seems an easy way to steal.
That’s clever
Young lass walked in to Pret near vauxhall bridge at lunch time, grabbed a sandwich and a fruit bowl and strolled straight back out!!!
Didn't even have time to say anything, she was gone in seconds. Got me thinking though that Pret must have massive issues with shop lifting
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I was at Aldi at a less than desirable part of the north east last week. The alarm went off and I saw an employee chasing a bloke carrying one of the blue baskets across the car park. I spoke to the cashier while at the till who told me he got away with a beef joint and some other stuff. She also said their contracts state they can't claim for injury or death should anything happen outside of the shop.
My initial thought was 'well that never happens where we live' quickly followed by 'there's no way I'd be chasing someone and putting myself at risk, not a chance.'
One of my daughters works in one of the major supermarkets and she says they lose Ł1000s every week to shop lifters, some of the thieves are known to sell what they have stole 100yds from the store, meat, clothes and even TVs, she got a rollicking awhile ago for chasing one of the thieves.
We all must be paying for the thievery with increased prices.
Can´t sympathise with Pret here, and I know I shouldn´t condone theft, but c´mon their prices are daylight bloomin´robbery.
I know what you mean, they charge like an angry rhino!!
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Shrinkage is passed down to suppliers for them to fund in their terms to stay on the supermarkets shelves.
And last time I looked, all the major grocers have very healthy margins and profitability returns so I think they’re “ok”
Not condoning theft but don’t buy into the lie that it drives pricing up to honest consumers.
Surely if theft is passed on to suppliers they’ll then be forced to raise prices to supermarkets. With prices supermarkets expect they don’t make enough to be unaffected. Either way consumers will be impacted.
For any shoplifting under Ł200 it’s covered by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act of 2014, over Ł200 and it goes under the Theft Act 1964.
The police don’t bother if it’s under Ł200.
But what I have seen recently is shops having evidence and waiting until the frequent flyers are over Ł200 and then press charges.
The client base I work with are often in trouble with the law.
Persistent shoplifters eventually get caught. They shoplift so regularly they're known to security companies and police. Every week persistent shoplifters' court cases and sentences / punishments are documented online. And suspected shoplifters' photos are also published. https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/...-tesco-3885550. .... tattoos will likely identify her sooner or later.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
I reckon throwing away expired perishables costs supermarkets more than theft. I don't condone the thieves at all of course.
With the greatest of respect you have probably never dealt with supermarket buyers? Suppliers are often squeezed by retailers to contribute to anti theft initiatives as a ruse to keep their products listed by said retailers. And yes some costs are passed onto the customer but not at a cost to a retailer.
As an example, Tesco’s profits for 2022 were c. Ł2.5bn. I’m no communist, but I think they do “ok” and don’t think that the miriad of suppliers aren’t being played by the retailer who play out their sib story about theft - be it customers or in house.
I think we agree, the big 4 supermarkets treat suppliers with absolute contempt. Even large multinationals such as Unilever are at their mercy due to oligopolistic situation.
However, their profit is actually very low compared to turnover. Part of the problem is consumers have got used to artificially low prices which are at the expense of suppliers.
I read that current food shortages are actually partly due, to suppliers now having more power and choosing not to sell to British supermarkets.
Fair play.
As an aside, I’ve found the whole premise of the major supermarkets advertising in the last few years totally reprehensible. The whole “we’re on your side” marketing mantra is utter nonsense as they try to position themselves as the 5th “emergency service” while racking up multi billion annual profits…….
I went to our local tk maxx before Xmas to get some perfume for the mrs and the display was empty according to one of the staff it had all been nicked by the local chavs
That Pret is adjacent to one of the biggest homeless shelters in London.
Not condoning theft but it might be a contributing factor.
I got involved with apprehending a shoplifter in one of our local shops a while back.
The individuals had stolen hundreds of pounds worth of stuff over the previous few weeks, and a staff member managed to grab one of them trying to leave the store.
The police were called and said we should detain the person until they got there, though it could be a few hours. The hour or so was a fair amount of struggles and brawling trying to stop the individual leaving the premises, until we realised that they would likely do damage to themselves, us or the shop repeatedly attempting to escape.
In the end, realising the police would indeed be hours, we gave up and let them go.
Hated doing so, but fighting with someone desperate to feed their drug habit isn't a great way to spend an afternoon.
A few hours?
As reported elsewhere, my outdoor pizza oven was stolen a while ago. I called police and they showed up within less than 15 minutes.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
Priorities!
Our country is utterly broken. Hadn't you heard?
Luxembourg police are obviously massive pizza fans, or just have nothing better to do
They simply have a policy to take any theft/burglary call serious. This is in one of Europe's theft/burglary capitals.Our country is utterly broken. Hadn't you heard?
Luxembourg police are obviously massive pizza fans, or just have nothing better to do
Doable of you staff the police according to the level of crime.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
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