Shop theft cost convenience stores in Delyn over £125,000 last year

Delyn MP David Hanson said he is deeply concerned that convenience stores in the constituency have witnessed shop theft which has cost them an estimated £128,224 in the last year.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) research has found that retail crime costs local shops £193 million per year.

Shop theft has a considerable impact on local shops and remains the most expensive type of business crime faced by convenience retailers, costing each store, on average, £1,739.

In Delyn there are 74 convenience stores who have faced this crime.

The ACS published their Crime Report 2018 this week highlights the challenges faced by retailers through shop theft, violence and abuse, robbery, burglary and fraud. ACS represents 33,500 local shops across the UK including the Co-Op, Spar UK, Nisa Retail and thousands of independent retailers.

This year’s Crime Report found that crime cost the convenience sector £193m in the last year. When taking into account the amount that retailers invest into crime prevention measures, the total cost of crime amounts to £8,115 per store or a 7p crime tax on every customer transaction.

There were 13,437 incidents of violence in the convenience sector in the last year, 39% of which result in injury.

Mr Hanson said: “Convenience stores are facing a rise in theft in North Wales and this is placing them under financial hardship. That is on top of the emotional strain that having your business robbed causes.

I want to see more action taken by the UK Government to reassure convenience stores in Delyn that they will be protected from those wishing to break the law. Every time a shop faces a crime it amounts to lost earnings.

Left untouched for too long this results in job losses and increased prices at the till.

It is simple to fix; put more police on our streets to strengthen neighbourhood policing. The cuts faced by North Wales Police have been eye-watering.

It has undermined the good work that our local police officers want to do. They are undertaking an extremely pressured job in the interests of our towns and villages, but they are being forced to do so with fewer resources. Enough is enough. Investment in our policing is needed to stop these criminal offences.”