Rise in shoplifting and theft in UK finds nine in 10 retailers in rural areas targeted | Retail industry
According to the research, nine in 10 retailers in rural areas have been victims of crime in the last 12 months; This research highlights the widespread impact of shoplifting and theft, even in more remote parts of the UK.
Rural retailers include farm stores as well as shops selling machinery and other equipment. The financial cost of crime for each affected retailer averaged £83,000 last year, according to research carried out by commercial insurer NFU Mutual. Meanwhile, one in 20 victims said the crime had cost them more than half a million pounds.
Retailers in inner cities reported experiencing the highest levels of crime, with 94% experiencing an incident last year. However, this was followed closely by retailers in urban areas (91%) and rural areas (91%).
Almost a quarter of rural retailers surveyed by NFU Mutual suffered more than six incidents, the equivalent of one incident every two months.
Meanwhile, only 5% of rural retailers who were victims of crime last year experienced just one incident.
John Harris, a farmer and owner of the Broadditch farm shop near Gravesend, Kent, is one of this small minority of business owners. Despite this, a break-in and theft at the farm shop last Easter left a lasting impact.
“It was a personal feeling, like a gut punch,” said Harris, who has run the farm store with his brother Mark since 1990, when they started selling homegrown fruits and vegetables and other produce in a building previously used to clean, sort and package apples.
The farm shop was broken into after the perpetrator forced open the skylight late at night on the Easter weekend. They then smashed the interior glass doors before pushing the store’s cash register down the stairs and out of the building.
“We don’t normally leave money in the store, but with the bad weekend there was more money in the till than usual,” Harris said.
The stolen safe contained £5,000 in winnings, while the perpetrator also made off with two donation boxes for the local hospice. Although there were security cameras inside the store, the Harrises did not learn what had happened until the next day. A man was later charged with the crime, but the case has not yet been heard in court.
The research comes as retailers warn that the rise in shoplifting in recent years is being driven by criminal gangs systematically targeting stores. A separate study by the British Retail Consortium reported that 5.5 million thefts by 2025 would cost the industry an estimated £400 million.
government crime and policing lawThe legislation, which became law at the end of April, created a separate offense for assaulting a retail worker and removed the £200 threshold for “low-level” theft, which carries a maximum prison sentence of six months.
Just under half (46%) of the 150 rural retailers surveyed said staff had been verbally abused in the last 12 months, while a quarter reported staff had been physically assaulted.
More than three-quarters (77%) of those surveyed said they believed crime in the UK had increased in the last 12 months.
“We know first-hand the pain and devastation caused to our rural communities and retailers by these callous actions by criminals,” said Zoe Knight, advertising manager at NFU Mutual.
“Farm shops are often family-run businesses and are embedded in local communities. Unfortunately, due to their remote locations, they have been targeted in the past and continue to be so, so it is vital that owners take all necessary and appropriate preventative steps to deter thieves.”
Since the break-in last year, the Harrises have increased security measures at their farm store.
“We have beefed up security with locks and alarm,” Harris said. “There have always been petty thefts such as diesels and quad bikes on farms, but now these things seem to be targeted and stolen to order.”
