News bulletins are fond of the saying “news as it happens” and UK broadcaster ITV could claim that very title when a man was caught shoplifting during a report on, you guessed it, shoplifting.
Cost of living pressures in the UK has seen a spike in desperate people forced to steal. To get the latest, ITV sent a news crew to a store in Croydon in London’s south.
Just as the store owner, Ben Selvaratnam, is being probed on his views, a man in a camouflaged jacket can be seen sneaking a bottle of alcohol into his pocket in the security video to the rear of the shop owner.
“I think he’s… I think he’s stealing,” a woman is heard saying, before the camera spins around and films the man being confronted by shop staff.
“I’m going to pay for it in a minute, bro,” the the man said before handing two bottles of beer over and demanding the shop worker “moves” out of his way as he leaves empty-handed.
Selvaratnam later said: “They’re so brazen that no one’s going to challenge them.
“They’re clearly getting away with it, that’s what it tells me. So when we’re challenging them, it’s almost like ‘what are you doing? You won’t need to challenge us. We’re used to just walking in and out’.”
Amid the country’s shoplifting crisis, it appears booze is top of the hit list.
The Sun is reporting that some retailers have taken to replacing actual bottles on shelves with photocopies and employing guards around their alcohol aisles.
And if you’re going to steal, it might as well be the expensive stuff, with French Champagne the tipple of choice most likely to get the photocopier treatment.
Consumer advocate Martyn James telling the newspaper: “Going to the shops is increasingly like a soulless virtual reality version of online shopping.
“Aisles are filled with photos of products and empty boxes.
“It’s time to support local retailers and stop a shoplifter. We need proper shops back.”
