It may not be a crime that would result in anyone ending up on a Most Wanted list.
But for the victims – and society as a whole – it is devastating: a violation that costs millions of pounds each year and leaves victims feeling vulnerable and cheated. This is shoplifting.
And Lincolnshire has a growing problem with it. Across the county, there was a shocking ten per cent rise in the crime last year, according to police figures.
Nick and Cathy Ridout know about this more than most.
The 68-year-old couple are the owners of The Lincoln Whisky Shop, in Bailgate.
And from quick grab-and-go snatches to police chases, they have first-hand experience of the often-extreme methods some crooks will go to in order to avoid paying.
Like the time their bottles, says Nick, were “found in a car stopped by the police on the A1 with their stolen products covered in blood”.
The police did offer to return the valuables but the couple politely declined. Nick said: “I told them, ‘I can’t sell those, use them for the police Christmas party’.”
Sometimes, they say, deception has been used. Like when two women entered the shop one day wearing unusually long dresses – which the couple now suspect hid a partner-in-crime.
Cathy said: “We think they had a child underneath one of their dresses and that’s why they had the long dresses on – a way of disguising that they had someone to carry the bottles away.”
Incidents like this have a psychological impact for shop owners and workers, says Cathy: “it’s a violation, you just feel as if they’ve taken advantage of you.”
The couple used to leave the shop-door open to invite customers in to buy products, but after many incidents they now close the door to prevent a quick escape for thieves.
With the advancement of technology, it is also becoming easier for criminals to use fake transactions to secure goods.
Anna Clarkson is the manager for Steep Hill Wines and lost £600 worth of alcohol after thieves claiming to be a restaurant in Peterborough enacted a fraudulent transaction.
They came in to collect two cases of champagne and bottles of wines with Anna unaware they hadn’t actually paid for it.
The 28-year-old manager said: “I felt a bit stupid that I let it go through, but these people are quite clever, and the words they used, it sounded genuine.”
When asked what needs to be improved to help stop theft activities, Anna said: “More awareness about the ways people can steal, because for me, I just thought that was a great day, a great sale because I wasn’t thinking that could happen.”
This is not just a Lincolnshire issue, of course. The British Retail Consortium’s 2024 crime survey stated that shoplifting cost retailers nearly £1.8 billion across the UK.
But here in our region, Lincoln Business Improvement Group (BIG) is one of the organisations now working with retailers to now try and reduce the crime here.
The group has deployed two wardens to patrol the city from Newport Arch to St Marks, as well as coordinating a radio scheme which connects 180 businesses and allows for alerts to be made about suspicious activity in the city.
Lee Roberts, 41, head of operations at Lincoln BIG, said: “We’re in the process of upgrading the radios. That’ll give greater connectivity between businesses and also to CCTV as well and we’re working with partners both city and county councils and the police, always identifying what else needs to be done in the city, just to keep it safe.”
Nevertheless, there’s only so much that can be done to protect our high streets as Lee added: “What we don’t want is to have lots of either uniformed security or police presence which then sometimes people feel less safe. So, it’s striking that balance.”
Over the last year, there has been 242 theft investigations completed within Lincoln with 195 resulting in court appearances and 70 concluding to a prison sentence.
And back with Nick at The Lincoln Whisky Shop, he’s optimistic the new actions will begin to bring shoplifting down again. “It’s annoying when it happens,” he said.
Hopefully, it will be happening less in the future.
