Shop staff at a BT petrol station reportedly asked members of the public to intervene to stop shoplifters who were performing what is known as a “kamikaze” raid on a station near London
In the face of a massive wave of shoplifting, retail staff are being warned not to try to confront shoplifters. But, it appears, there’s nothing to prevent members of the public in trying to stem the crime wave.
One woman claims that she was begged to detail a man who had scooped a whole shelf-full of goods from a BP petrol station mini-market.
Writing in the I newspaper, Sophie Gallagher said that two staff who had been standing behind the shop’s counter remained behind the till about 20ft away from the action and “instead asked us, the only customers in the shop other than the thief, to intervene.”
The incident that Sophie witnessed was what was known as a “kamikaze” raid, where thieves storm into a shop and grab a huge quantity of stock and walk out, confident that they won’t be challenged.
“It was in a large enough quantity that it filled [the thief’s] bag to the top,” Sophie recalled, adding that she had seen a number of other shoplifting incidents in recent years.
“Most regularly, I seem to witness them in Co-op or Sainsbury’s supermarkets,” she said. “Normally it is big-ticket food items such as meat or washing products. Nor was it the first time I’ve seen staff stand back and let it happen.”
A spokesman for BP stated: “We have a non-confrontation policy but we encourage our teams to engage in positive customer care protocols to deter where possible.”
Helen Dickinson, the British Retail Consortium’s chief executive, said that offenders were becoming more reckless because “they don’t see that there’s necessarily any consequences”.
She added: “It’s outrageous and out of control in many parts of the country.”
Shoplifting is on the increase in the UK. According recent figures to the Office for National Statistics [ONS], there were 530,643 reported shoplifting offences in the year to March. That represents a 20% increase from the same period last year, with retail industry groups warning that organised crime groups were increasingly involved, “hitting store after store.”
Tom Holder, a spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium, says that the problem is significantly bigger than the ONS figures suggest, because many shoplifting incidents are never reported to police and don’t register on official crime statistics.
He told the BBC. “If their statistics were true, there’d only be about one and a half incidents per year per shop, and if you ask any shopkeeper they’ll tell you they’re lucky if a day goes by where there hasn’t been a shoplifting incident.”
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said his members had recorded more than 6.2 million incidents of shoplifting in 2024, adding that in many cases the crimes go unreported.
“Retailers tell us that they won’t report crime if they have no faith in it being investigated,” he said, adding that justice system needs to start talking shoplifting more seriously.
“Only then will we be able to start bringing the numbers down and stop widespread reoffending by criminals that are acting with confidence that they will not be apprehended,” he said.
A spokesperson for BP was contacted for comment, but the Mirror has yet to receive a reply.