PRIMARK staff are being kitted out with bodycams for protection as shoplifting soars dramatically — with TikTok and other social media sites being blamed for the rise.
Retail bosses said thefts had “gone far beyond kids pilfering” and thieves were walking out with hundreds of pounds of clothes and goods at a time.
The head of John Lewis has branded it an “epidemic”.
TikTok and other social media sites have been accused of encouraging users to swap tips on how to loot stores.
The level of the thefts has rocketed so much that Primark’s owner yesterday had to tell investors it was affecting its own budgets and stock levels.
As a result, it is now ramping up spending on extra security staff and joining a growing number of retailers to use body cameras.
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Eoin Tonge, chief financial officer of owner Associated British Foods, told The Sun: “I think the cost of living crisis has given some people a societal excuse that they can just go out and nick what they want.
“It’s depressing, particularly for our staff.”
Mr Tonge acknowledged that there was a marked difference in people stealing food or items because they needed them to eat or help their families.
Instead, he warned that there was an astonishing rise in “the glorification of nicking on social media”.
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Mr Tonge said that users were posting ‘just nicked this from Primark’ to their mates for “likes”.
One social media user ranked six high street chains on TikTok and rated them for how easy they were to steal from.
Mr Tonge said that Primark was now working with police and social media platforms to clamp down, remove posts and pass information on to help with prosecutions.
Last month, London’s Oxford Street was plunged into chaos when a mob of youths descended on JD Sports to take part in a “Oxford Circus JD robbery”.
A viral TikTok post urging followers to “rob JDSports” forced other shops to also pull down their shutters to avoid being looted.
The TikTok video shared by yobs instructed users to follow “the dress code of balaclavas and gloves” and no weapons.
George Weston, ABF chief executive, has called on authorities to take responsibility for law and order.
He said: “We need to emphasise, as others have emphasised, the role of the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and magistrates in tackling this problem which is just getting steadily worse.
“They are doing more, but it’s not enough yet.”
Dame Sharon White, the chair of John Lewis and Waitrose, said this week that Britain faced an “epidemic” of shoplifting and the number of offences had doubled in the past year.
The retail chief said that Britain’s town centres risked “becoming a looting ground for emboldened shoplifters and organised gangs”.
The situation has become so grave some towns and neighbourhoods could become no-go areas for shops due to soaring levels of retail crime, the Co-op has warned.
The food retailer has said there were 1,000 cases of crime, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour in its shops every day — with some stores looted by gangs three times in one day.
Retail workers have told The Sun gangs arrive at stores with holdalls to clear entire shelves of items and walk out brazenly knowing they will not be stopped.
Some organised crime gangs also steal tins of infant formula to cut drugs with.
The levels of theft at Primark has surprised retail experts, as shoplifting at this scale has typically been at supermarkets.
One senior retail source said: “Primark is meant to be low-cost clothes.
“There wouldn’t be much resale value to them, unlike stealing trainers you could then sell on an online marketplace.
“Which suggests people are just out for themselves.”
Last year, retailers lost almost £1billion with eight million incidents of theft, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Shopworkers also suffered 315,000 incidents of violence or abuse against them, equivalent to 867 assaults a day.
Primark’s bosses said that the UK accounted for half of its reported shoplifting incidents but it was also rising in France, Spain and the US.
Dame Sharon, meanwhile, said incidents inside stores were not always investigated by police.
John Lewis is among ten of the UK’s biggest retailers which have agreed to fund a police operation to crack down on shoplifting, dubbed Project Pegasus.
The companies are expected to pay around £600,000 towards the project, which will utilise CCTV pictures and facial recognition technology.
Writing in The Telegraph, she said: “High streets risk becoming a looting ground for emboldened shoplifters and organised gangs.”
She also called for Scottish legislation that makes the abuse of a retail worker an offence to be brought in nationwide.
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Speaking on Radio 4’s Today, she said: “When I think about our shop workers who were lauded as national heroes during the pandemic, it’s not right that they’re having to put up with abuse and attacks.
“Incidents haven’t always been responded to by the police . . . and sometimes those incidents have got some violent aspects.”
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Ashley Armstrong
