Value of stolen goods hits ten-year high as attacks on store staff soar

In its Retail Crime Survey for 2007, loses from detected thefts rose 8.5 per cent to£205 million in a year. Undetected thefts are thought to have risen by the same percentage, bringing the total cost of stolen goods to£830 million in the UK.

The BRC also found that violent acts against retail staff had risen by 50 per cent over the last year with threats of violence more than doubled and the number of incidents per employee rising by a third.

BRC director-general Kevin Hawkins said: “Last year, shop staff were subjected to around half a million incidents of abuse or violence in their work places and retailers clocked up even greater loses to theft. The Government and law enforcers must stop believing retail crime as victimless and committed by harmless petty criminals.”