Tesco store checks shoppers on CCTV before letting them in

A Tesco branch is using CCTV to check customers entering the store to reduce shoplifting.

The branch in Southville, Bristol, leaves the automatic doors shut until customers are viewed on camera to determine whether they are suspected or well-known thieves. It has also removed baskets from the entrance to prevent thieves from filling them up and then running off as it tries to tackle the shoplifting epidemic.

Staff said the ''nightclub-style door policy'' operated between 6am and 9am and late evenings when no security guards were on duty.

A spokesperson said all Tesco Express stores have a remote-control door access system available to staff which can be used at times when assaults or thefts are likely to occur.

It comes after Rishi Sunak revealed assaulting a shop worker was to be made a separate criminal offence after the government U-turned in the face of a long-running campaign.

Ministers had previously ruled out legislating to create a new offence, saying in response to a parliamentary petition in October they did not think it was “required or will be most effective”.

However, last week, the prime minister announced that his government would amend its Criminal Justice Bill to include the new offence, which will apply to England and Wales.

Earlier this year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) published a report saying violent and abusive incidents against shopworkers had increased 50% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. In the year up to September 2023, police recorded 402,482 shoplifting offences in England and Wales, up from 304,459 the previous year.

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What is the penalty for shoplifting in the UK?

Currently, shoplifting does not automatically lead to time in prison. If the goods are worth less than £200, the maximum sentence is six months in prison, but this type of offence is usually dealt with by issuing a postal fine.

Anything over £200 could lead to a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. However, the actual sentence depends on the value of the goods stolen and whether the offender has any previous convictions.

In addition to criminal penalties, shoplifters may also face civil penalties, such as being banned from the store or having to pay compensation to the store for any damage or loss caused.

The 2021 Protection of Workers Act is an Act of the Scottish Parliament to create an offence of assaulting, threatening or abusing retail workers, and to provide for a statutory aggravation of that offence where the retail worker is enforcing a statutory age restriction.

This does not apply in the rest of the UK.

Read more

• What are the current punishments for shoplifting in the UK?(Yahoo News)

• Shopkeepers must be safeguarded to uphold smoking ban, retailers warn (PA)

• Separate offence to be created for assaulting shopworkers in government U-turn (Sky News)