New law aims to support shopworkers as Cardfactory theft video hits 615k views
As a video showing a thief brazenly stealing from a Cardfactory store in broad daylight clocks up over 615,000 views, the new government is expected to make assaulting retail workers a criminal offence.
The Cardfactory reel can be seen below and was filmed in its Holloway store in north London recently and features on the @londonukstreetnews YouTube channel showing staff forced to watch as one man clears products off the till counter while his accomplice holds the door open then the pair leave the shop, with the captions saying it happened at 10am.
At the other end of the retail scale, indie store Cornucopia in Worcester has been posting on social media about the levels of shoplifting it has been suffering, with mum and daughter owners Clare and Hannah Bishop saying they felt forced to acknowledge the “troubling trend” impacting their small business.
They posted last week: “The rise in shoplifters targeting our store has reached alarming levels, with incidents occurring more frequently than ever before.
“Every week, we face the distressing reality of theft from our shop – a crime that has consequences not only for our business but for our community as a whole.”
Explaining they have 24-hour cctv surveillance, and the support of the shopping centre’s security guards, as well as police cooperation with numerous cases under investigation, they reached out to customers for assistance, asking for help in identifying those involved in the thefts.
And a follow-up post on Wednesday, 10 July, showed the reaction: “We are truly touched by the outpouring of support and solidarity from our community in response to the recent challenges we’ve faced with an increase in shoplifters.
“The safety and well-being of our staff and customers are our top priorities and to have such unwavering encouragement from all of you means everything to us. Your words of kindness have bolstered our spirits and reinforced our belief that we are not alone in this.
“Together, we stand strong against adversity, united by a shared sense of community and resilience. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being a beacon of light in these trying times.”
Meanwhile, Labour looks set to deliver on its promise to protect retail workers with the new law –which makes assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker a standalone offence under the Crime & Policing bill, expected to be announced in the King’s Speech tomorrow, 17 July.
Writing in The Times, Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy called on the new government to make changes to the new bill as attacks on store staff continue to increase, saying the number of serious incidents involving a weapons had risen 39% during the retailer’s first quarter this year.
He said the numbers were “truly shocking”, and added: “A single assault on a shop worker is unacceptable, but this steep rise must see this issue put right at the heart of the incoming government’s legislative agenda.”
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported earlier this year that levels of violence against shop staff have risen by 50%, as its latest crime survey showed daily incidents against shop workers shot up to 1,300 in 2023, including sexual harassment, racial abuse, physical assault and threats – hitting the same level as during the pandemic, where shop staff bore the brunt of some people’s frustration over the Covid safety measures.
The trade association said the rise happened despite retailers of all sizes spending £1.2billion on measures such as cctv, body cameras and increased security personnel over the year, up from £722million the previous year – and the cost of theft also rose from £953m the previous year to £1.8bn, making the total cost of crime for stores £3.3bn.
