Just been done for shoplifting.

I've just retired after 38 years in food retailing. I was first attacked at the age of 17 in the co op on Wellington street, homeless bloke, bottle of vodka, I got awarded something in compo at a pound a month, never saw a penny.
Over the years obviously its got gradually worse, but whereas back in the day, there was an element of excitement in chasing a runner and extracting retribution when u caught them, nowadays you're instructed not to bother. In fact you could get disciplined if you did. Too many folk getting stabbed for a tenner.
Police don't bother, you used to be able to get them out after a couple of hours of waiting, holding the thief by various dodgy methods. Now, they just don't attend, full stop. They'll send someone for the cctv, within a couple of weeks, maybe. No cctv? Not the police's problem.
They know its the bottom rung of the crime ladder and it funds the stuff higher up, but either they haven't got the bodies ......(amazing how a serious incident always seemed to happen when we got a shoplifter)......or they know they'll never solve it, so it makes their figures worse, so they'd rather not record it.
They'll nick anything saleable.....cheese, meat, coffee, any toiletries, any booze and if you're in a German discounter anything from down the middle aisle.
If you're brazen enough, know the loopholes and can run, then crime pays and they know it.
Glad to be out of it.

 

Reminds me of the time someone got chased out of Asda at Chapeltown and ended up under a train There’s some desperate people out there these days, so hard to be critical of all shoplifters.

 

At a rough estimate, less than 10% would be theft for personal use, to eat themselves as they were homeless or just skint. Most is to sell on to fund a habit.

 

Seems very plausible to me. Very. Unless someone claps its clearly true!

 

I'm a dab hand at soplifting, especially choccy bars, i've got a few TWIX, up my sleeve.

 

Not one for encouraging crime, but i agree.

 

My sister teld us that she's close to finding the underwear thief,

I nearlly SHAT her knickers on hearing that.

 

I was in court for shoplifting, judge said what did you pinch.
I said a tin of peaches yer honour,
He said , i'll give you 4 weeks hard labour, 1 week for each peach.
And then the wife shouts from the gallery, He stole 2 cans of beans as well.

 

If you had also stole a bottle of Domestos you would have been done for Bleach of the Peach.

 

I remember an incident that took place in the early 90s whilst i was running a pub in Maidenhead, one of my customers was a journalist who worked in Fleet Street. On one particular afternoon he appeared in the bar somewhat earlier than his usual expected time....On pointing out the time, in general conversation, he explained that he had had a fallout with his editor and was non too pleased, that 6months of research and a hell of a lot of candle burning extra hours, had been spent compiling an exclusive.
It turned out that Michael Hessletine, a then prominent figure in Government, had pulled strings at the very top, to stop his story regarding hessletines sister inlaw and her kleptomainia ways being published. ..apparently both her and his wife had been caught shoplifting and arrested for the second time in days. To make matters worse he'd had a telephone call whilst in the editors office from Hessletine, with veiled threats of how hard and uncomfortable he could make it for him if said article was published

 

There are two - almost identical - beggars who are often around Cortonwood in the daytime pretending to be homeless. It was ages before I saw them both together and realised it wasn't just one bloke!

But apparently they are begging/stealing for drugs money and both are regularly seen spaced out sat outside Marks or Boots.