Since Covid, shoplifting has been on the rise in the UK, and more than 530,000 incidents were recorded between March 2024 and March 2025 – an increase of 20 per cent on the year before and a huge 55 per cent increase on the year before that. Small businesses are losing hundreds and hundreds of pounds to thieves.
So why are people doing it? Columnist Poppy Jay and PC Emily-Jayne Matthews give their perspectives.
The most polite shoplifter I’ve ever met was carrying two sirloin steaks and a packet of Quavers. “Excuse me miss,” he said gently, squeezing past me before sprinting out of a Co-op in Glasgow.
Honestly, the “miss” startled me more than the steaks. He had a missing tooth and a deep scar slashed down one side of his face. Somebody, somewhere, had once tried very hard to hurt him. The security guards barely looked up.
“Does this happen a lot?” I asked one of the staff afterwards. “Every day,” he shrugged. Just business as usual.
