Self-checkouts fuelling rise in shoplifting among ‘good, honest people’, M&S chair warns
Self-checkouts are causing a rise in theft among “good, honest people”, according to the chairman of Marks & Spencer.
Archie Norman, who has run the retailer since 2017. said Telegram He said the “human connection” between customers and stores was broken by the existence of direct debits, but said supermarkets should not have to remove them if they wanted to reduce theft.
Mr Norman told the newspaper: “Normally good, honest people come and say when they don’t scan when they do their shopping and there’s no one at the till: ‘It’s not my fault and I don’t have much time, so if I can’t get my strawberries through, I’ll put them in my basket’.”
The company’s chairman, who was MP for Tunbridge Wells from 1997 to 2001, said levels of theft meant stores needed to “make technology easier for people”.
It comes after the M&S Food store in Clapham, south London, was targeted when a group of youths stormed the streets of the neighborhood as part of an Easter holiday “hook-up”, causing people to barricade themselves in stores.
Footage shows a large crowd of young people gathering on Clapham High Street at the end of March, many wearing masks, and several supermarkets being forced to close their doors.
Mr Norman said direct debits, now ubiquitous in British supermarkets, were not to blame for the events in Clapham, but instead called for a more active police response.
He said: “Gangs of children breaking in and sweeping shelves is a police incident and requires an active police response.
“When something like this starts to become widespread, it becomes clear to everyone, including ordinary citizens, that this is not safe.”
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that burglary offenses fell by one per cent to 509,566 in the year ending December 2025.
But Lucy Whing, crime policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said the ONS statistics “understate” the issue because they only cover reported incidents. According to BRC, 5.5 million theft cases were detected last year.
Ms Whing said: “The reasons are diverse, but the rise in organized crime is particularly worrying as gangs systematically target store after store across the country.”
The Metropolitan Police this week said it had solved 50 per cent more burglaries in areas where new technologies designed to quickly identify suspects were being trialled.
The technology, which allows retailers to send reports and CCTV footage instantly, has been trialled in areas such as Lewisham and central London since January.
Providing officers with instant access to high-quality evidence when reporting makes it easier to identify repeat offenders operating in counties, according to the Met.
Since its implementation, the positive outcome rate, defined as an arrest, charge or conviction, has been 21.4 percent, above the Met average of 14 percent.
Last year the Met said it solved almost twice as many burglary offenses and made almost 50 per cent more arrests.
