Croydon in south London has been named the worst place for fashion fraud, suffering the highest amount of stock loss or shrinkage caused by theft.

In data compiled by the Retail Loss Prevention Fashion Forum, which combines information from 230 city and town centres during a three-month period, only Oxford Street fared worse than the London borough.

Canterbury was named the lowest spot for fraud in the survey, which is designed to provide evidence to police as to where they should prioritise officer deployment. London Mayor Boris Johnson is looking at a similar crime-mapping initiative to deploy London officers more effectively.

Andrew Wood, managing director of the ORIS Group, which analyses the figures, said: “This kind of analysis was to test to see whether a form of mapping could help retailers work together with police and town centre partnerships to prioritise officer deployment where crime is high.”

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