Bristol shopkeeper says thieves steal from his shop up to ten times a day

A new grant scheme has been launched to tackle Bristol’s shoplifting ‘epidemic’, with one shopkeeper in the city saying thieves steal from his shop up to ten times a day.

The new Safer Shops West scheme by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority will see shops in the region able to apply for a grant of up to £2,000.  

The money will go towards the costs of security measures such as CCTV, hand-held radios and body cams.     

But Bristol shopkeeper Shafique Awan says more action is needed from the police for the grants to be effective.    

“There have been times when someone stole tonnes of chocolate from the aisle filling a bag - twice,” said Awan, speaking from his shop St Peter’s Rise Convenience Store on St Peter's Rise in Headley Park. 

“Once a person actually got into the storeroom and wiped out the cigarettes and tobacco. Abusive customers are also an issue.” 

Awan, who has owned his shop for 12 years, says shoplifting has been an issue from day one, with shoplifting incidents taking place five to ten times a day. 

“Mentally, I’ve come to terms with it now but initially it was very disturbing. We just tend to accept it,” he told BristolWorld.   

“When anybody comes in that you don’t know of, you start thinking they are going to steal something. We’ve once been held at knife point. 

“I’ve got people that come in here with Ikea bags, full of whole chickens trying to sell them to me, probably nicked from other stores.” 

Awan says he hasn’t seen a PCSO or police cars stop on St Peter’s Rise in four years - and believes police action is needed to address the shoplifting issue.      

He added: “The unfortunate thing is the police are not capable of dealing with these things, all they’re interested in is giving you the crime reference number, they’ve got the standard answer. Ninety per cent of the time we can identify them and still nothing gets done. 

“Even with the body cams, if I have a clear picture of somebody, if the police aren’t interested, we still will have the same problem so it might help us identify the people but I think the police need more money.”   

Headley Park, where Awan’s store is located, is in second in Bristol’s list of shoplifting ‘hotspots’. 

West of England mayor Dan Norris visited the store and met with Awan to launch his new Safer Shops West scheme.

The mayor said: “The fightback starts now. It’s law-abiding citizens that suffer from the shoplifting epidemic. Shops put up prices to make up for the lost goods - making the cost-of-living crisis even worse. And hard-working shopkeepers, like Shafique, are in the firing line.” 

Shoplifting has gone up 25 per cent in a year across England, and 41 per cent in the West of England  Norris said he “really doesn’t know” why there has been such a surge in the region. 

He said: “I just know it’s real, causing anxiety, stress and worry and businesses are going under because of it. 

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg, if you don’t deal with this kind of thing it will expand to other things,” he added. 

When asked if the £2,000 grants are enough, Norris said they are higher than the £1,500 groups representing small retailers have urged the government to provide.   

He added: “Whether it proves to be enough in the long-term, I don't know. We will find out but I’m hoping it will make a difference and what’s important is it’s in place now.

“The issues and demand of this challenge are now and I’ll have to review it as it goes along. But I really want to help resolve this. My view is if you leave it, it will only get worse.

"The issue about policing is key and I’m not responsible for that but I’m doing what I can given my responsibilities and my budget."

An Avon & Somerset Police spokesperson said: "We encourage shop workers to report crime and aim to respond to incidents of shoplifting proportionately, prioritising those in which threats are made, acts of violence are reported or a suspect has been detained.

“When operational demand means we're unable to attend immediately, thefts and other incidents in shops are still investigated, with stores asked to upload CCTV through our website.

“Our neighbourhood teams are committed to working with individual businesses and business groups to support them and have successfully used anti-social behaviour legislation to ban persistent thieves from certain areas.

“Shop staff should be able to feel safe in their workplace and we don’t underestimate the impact of these types of crime. We receive hundreds of calls every day and we do have to prioritise the incidents officers attend based on an assessment of the level of ongoing threat, harm and risk.”