London, Thanasis Gavos

A large increase in retail theft incidents at Britain in recent years has documented new research, confirming the heads of large chain stores who are asking the police to take more seriously the phenomenon, which is often accompanied by violence against employees.

CEOs of supermarkets, department stores and other stores argue that the increase in the frequency of the phenomenon is not only linked to the punctuality crisis, but mainly to the emergence of organized criminal gangs that focus their activities on retail sales premises.

The company money.co.uk found that from August 2020 to July 2023 there have been 233,906 thefts in British supermarkets.

Next in frequency of thefts are department stores with around 27,000, the corresponding convenience stores with almost 26,000, clothing stores with 25,000, medium-sized stores selling various items with 24,000, petrol stations with 19,000, pharmacies with 11,500, charity shops with 6,500 , furniture stores with 6,000 and shoe stores with 5,500.

At the same time, chief executives of major supermarket chains and department stores are speaking to MailOnline of an “epidemic” due to the increased activity of organized gangs.

In fact, the head of frozen supermarket chain Iceland tells the Mail that there have been incidents of three employees being diagnosed with HIV, which causes AIDS, after being attacked by thieves with contaminated syringes.

He says he now receives an average of 12 complaints a week of “serious assaults” on staff, including slaps, punches, knife threats, broken bottles, hammers, pistols and syringes.

There have been no injuries to staff members such as a broken jaw or fractured skull.

And according to the British Retail Consortium, 850 incidents of physical or verbal violence against employees are recorded in the country’s stores every day.