‘I lose £200 a day – they nick anything and the police do nothing’: Shopkeeper who has run his stores for 20 years says he might have to CLOSE his business as it loses more money from thieves stealing his products than it makes every day
- Shopkeeper Saba Mahesh estimates he loses £200 per day from shoplifting
- He is considering Kent store as it loses more from theft than earns in profits
Shopkeeper Saba Mahesh estimates he’s losing about £200 a day from shoplifting.
He has run four small stores in Sheerness, Kent, for almost 20 years – but is now considering the closure of one as it loses more money to theft than it makes in profits every day.
He blames adults and ‘out-of-control teenagers’ who, he says, ‘nick anything: sweets, crisps, vaping devices, energy drinks and alcohol. It’s not people being hungry – it’s criminals.’
His staff used to report thefts to the police but don’t now, as he says officers do not investigate.
‘I am very angry that the police are not doing anything,’ he said.
He added that shoplifting is worse during the summer and that his staff fear being attacked. He said: ‘They face all kinds of abuse. Some, who are not white, suffer racial abuse.’
Shopkeeper Saba Mahesh (pictured outside his store SS News and Wine) estimates he’s losing about £200 a day from shoplifting
SHOPLIFTERS LAUGH AS THEY FILL THEIR BAGS
Thieves who steal from the convenience store in Wolverhampton where Michelle Whitehead works as a manager are so brazen they fill bags with food and walk out, laughing at staff.
READ MORE: Thieves target stores every TWO seconds in Britain, costing retailers more than £1billion last year alone, shocking figures show
The 50-year-old says she used to love her job but now regularly goes home and cries after receiving abuse from thieves – who not only swear at her but throw objects, spit and threaten to beat her up.
Ms Whitehead said: ‘I feel such anxiety at work – I’m thinking of leaving. Before the pandemic, thieves would steal slyly, but they now come in pairs, stuff bags full of food and walk out laughing at us.’
She says some are ‘organised criminal gangs’ who, for example, pilfer ’11 packs of bacon or 12 chickens’ and sell them on. Ms Whitehead said the shoplifters know police won’t prosecute and take advantage of the fact staff have been told by bosses not to physically stop them.
She explained how staff are advised that any intervention risks injury and said a colleague was sacked because he intervened in a shoplifting incident.
She added: ‘Sometimes we call the police but officers usually never arrive.’
Even when caught, she said thieves return to shoplift again. She said one was back in her store within 30 minutes of his guilty verdict to steal again, before he returned to court for sentencing.
Kirk Wharton is seen on CCTV stashing item in his coat in a foiled shoplifting attempt
CCTV footage of a couple who attacked a shop worker in Bristol
Thieves are targetting stores every two seconds in Britain, figures have shown
‘LET-OFF’ FOR WOMAN GUILTY OF 13 THEFTS
A prolific shoplifter charged with 13 separate offences during just two months escaped a jail sentence and was merely given a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) – designed to deal with persistent anti-social behaviour – which banned her from Peterborough’s main shopping centre for two years.
The case of Jolene Maughan, 35, highlights what critics call ‘soft justice’ towards shoplifting, where custodial sentences are not handed down even to repeat offenders.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary, which said Maughan was putting a strain on their resources, still urged the court to give her a CBO instead of a jail term.
Among the charges, Maughan was found guilty of stealing an iPad worth £240, £49 worth of alcohol, and meat costing £60 from M&S. She also stole food and alcohol worth almost £80 from Asda.
She even assaulted a security guard and threatened another. Previously, she had 19 theft and similar offences recorded against her, and had once served a week in prison for shoplifting.
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