Marks & Spencer's retail director has called for a crackdown on retail crime, after a string of incidents involving shoplifting and violence at its stores.
Thinus Keeve said police should be given the resources to tackle the issue, which he says is "getting worse, not better", with retail staff facing "abuse and violence in their workplace every day".
M&S external affairs director Adam Hawksbee told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that stores have been targeted by organised criminal gangs, leaving staff "worried about coming into work".
Police responded to reports of anti-social behaviour involving a group of "several hundred young people" last weekend in Clapham, south London. Many were seen entering an M&S.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Keeve said he had written to London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan urging him to provide extra support for police. It is understood the mayor will meet with M&S soon.
