Bristol retailer losing up to £300 a week to shoplifting

Shafique Awan said some weeks he loses up to £300 to shoplifters

A convenience store manager says he is losing around £200 to £300 a week to shoplifting.

Shafique Awan has run St Peter's Rise Convenience Store in Headley Park, Bristol, for 12 years and said the issue has "gone way up".

According to the West of England Combined (Weca) shoplifting in the region has increased by 41% over the last year.

To help tackle the problem, it has now launched the Safe Shops West scheme.

'Questions to consider'

The scheme, backed by the Association of Convenience Stores and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) will allow independent businesses to apply for grants of up to £2,000.

The grants can be spent on security measures such as CCTV and body-worn cameras and hand-held radios for staff.

Mr Awan said he hopes the money will help secure his business, as things have become so bad he may have to consider if he wants to carry on.

Weca mayor Dan Norris said it was law-abiding citizens that suffer because of shoplifting

"There is certainly is a point where you're going to say it's probably not even worth the trouble [of trading]", he added.

Mr Awan said: "They [shoplifters] come in a group. Two will engage you while the other one's probably filling up a bag, and then they just dash out."

"Some weeks it is up to £200 to £300 [stolen]," he added.

Mr Awan said he has stopped reporting thefts to the police as he feels it is "never in the public interest to follow it up".

However, a spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said they "don't underestimate the impact of these types of crime".

The spokesperson added: "We encourage shop workers to report crime and aim to respond to incidents of shoplifting, prioritising those in which threats are made, acts of violence are reported or a suspect has been detained."

Business owners have also been encouraged to upload CCTV of incidents through the force's website.

"Our neighbourhood teams are committed to working with individual businesses and business groups to support them and have successfully used anti-social behaviour legislation to ban persistent thieves from certain areas," the police spokesperson added.

Weca Mayor Dan Norris said: "The fightback starts now. It's law-abiding citizens that suffer from the shoplifting epidemic."

'Totally unacceptable'

"Shops put up prices to make up for the lost goods - making the cost-of-living crisis even worse," he added.

CEO of the British Independent Retail Association Andrew Goodacre said: "The current level of retail crime is totally unacceptable, and the smaller retailer simply cannot afford extra security staff to help manage the problem.

"Having access to this kind of fund will help smaller retailers to run their businesses better by protecting their people, their customers and their stock."