This is the Guardian.

Today,

does Britain have a shoplifting problem?

If you speak to your local shopkeeper about shoplifting,

chances are that they'll tell you it's spiraling out of control.

The British retail consortium say that there were 8 million instances of theft

from British shops last year,

costing businesses almost a billion pounds.

If a recent year is like last couple of years,

people still in basically everything was not screwed to the wall,

but they tried to take.

That figure has gone up since the cost of living crisis really began to bite.

Last year, the Office for National Statistics reported that shoplifting had gone up 22%.

On a sunny morning, earlier this month, along Greenlands in North London,

shopkeepers and store managers had plenty to say.

They just literally were walking day after day after day and just clear

the shelves in front of the store staff and in front of security.

They pick and run. I can't do anything when they run.

If they're in, then I can do something.

In this particular area, you will see places like Savers, Boots,

Saints Breeze, Little,

they are really, really struggling in the sense of trying to keep the shoplifters away.

...