Tesco has bizarrely started wrapping security tags around its shopping baskets, as another store has imposed a ‘nightclub-style door policy’ by checking shoppers before letting them in.
The supermarket giant has started tagging the baskets at its store in the village of Theydon Bois, Essex, to deter thieves following a surge in thefts amid the cost-of-living crisis.
The move left one shopper baffled who said he could not believe it when he saw his shopping basket was secured with a grey tag.
James Beach, 45, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw they had stuck tags on shopping baskets – I mean, what are you going to do with one of them?
‘Is there nothing these people won’t nick?’
Tesco has bizarrely started wrapping security tags around its shopping baskets at its store in Theydon Bois, Essex
The move left one shopper baffled who said he could not believe it when he saw his shopping basket was secured with a grey tag
One shopper in the Essex village, James Beach, 45, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw they had stuck tags on shopping baskets
He added: ‘I spoke to one of the staff and she said they’d had loads of thefts so they were tagging the baskets now to try and deter people.’
It comes as another branch in Bristol started checking customers on CCTV before letting them into the store in a ‘nightclub-style door policy‘.
The branch in Southville has also moved their shopping baskets away from the doors to stop thieves piling them up with shopping and running out.
It leaves the automatic doors shut until customers are viewed on camera to see if they are suspected or well-known thieves.
Staff say the ‘nightclub-style door policy’ is in operation between 6am and 9am and in the late evenings when no security guards are on duty.
It comes after it was reported earlier in the month that convenience store thefts have soared to 5.6million from 1.1million in just one year.
Figures from the Association of Convenience Stores also revealed that there were 76,000 acts of violence in small shops last year, up from 41,000.
The rise in supermarket thefts has already seen Tesco start tagging toilet roll as Britain’s shoplifting epidemic continues to spiral out of control.
A Bristol Tesco branch, pictured, has started checking people on CCTV before allowing them to enter
Nitrosurge boxes have been locked up in the Tesco Extra in Osterley, west London, as the UK’s shoplifting epidemic continues
Pictures show black tags wrapped around the battery-powered device which promises to ‘create the iconic Guinness surge’
Tags were seen on toilet rolls in a Tesco Express store in Bromley and Beckenham, south London, in October.
While in March high-tech security tags were wrapped around a £30 Guinness gadget.
Nitrosurge boxes were seen locked up in the Tesco Extra in Osterley, west London.
Pictures showed black tags wrapped around the battery-powered device which promises to ‘create the iconic Guinness surge’.
In February, the shocking moment when a pair of masked shoplifters ran into a London Tesco and brazenly helped themselves to bottles of booze before running out was revealed.
The incident took place on New England’s Lane in Belsize Park, an expensive area of north west London, as the UK’s shoplifting epidemic shows no sign of stopping.
The moment was caught on film by a bystander at the shop and shows the two thieves at the fridge section of the store piling bottles of alcohol into a large bag.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently vowed to ‘stop shoplifters in their tracks’ with a tough package of measures.
Rishi Sunak has promised to ‘stop shoplifters in their tracks’ with a tough package of measures
In response to an epidemic of violent thefts, assaulting a shop worker will be made a specific offence for the first time, the Prime Minister says.
Prolific shoplifters will also be fitted with GPS satellite electronic tags so their movements can be tracked.
Home Office figures, obtained by the Labour Party this week, revealed there had been a record 402,482 shoplifting offences in the year to September 2023.
The British Retail Consortium said thefts cost retailers £1.8billion in 2022-23, up from £953million the previous year.
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