Shoplifters are costing north charity shops thousands of pounds a day in a spiralling theft epidemic.
Highland and island charity bosses revealed they are regularly losing over £100 in a single day – a pattern repeated across the more than 60 shops in the region.
In recent times, many charity shops have reinvented themselves for a more upscale buyer, with “pre-loved” designer brands sometimes worth significant amounts of money.
They face a constant threat from repeat offenders, often stealing to feed addictions – but recent increases have at least in part been fuelled by people stealing clothes and items for their own use in hard times.
Oxfam’s manager in Oban, Claire MacPhee, caught a book thief herself last year, red-handed, before the police dealt with the situation.
She confirmed that charity shoplifting was on the increase.
“They maybe see us as a soft target,” she said. “They probably target charity shops because they’re predominately staffed by volunteers who maybe aren’t trained to look for it.
“And it’s the people who are donating who lose out as well, as they’ve donated to see the money go to charity.
“We don’t always catch them but we get empty hangers in the cloakrooms and tags hidden away.”
The favoured items for thieves in Oban is DVDs, CDs and clothes.
“It’s not necessarily the people you’d expect to be shoplifting – a lot of it is habit. People do it if they think they can get away with it,” Ms MacPhee added.
Dianne Gear, manager at Save the Children’s store in Lerwick, said shoplifting itself was not new but some of the tactics were. An increasing trend is switching price tags to get items cheaper.
Ms Gear said: “The worst thing with us is people taking the price tags off. I’ve put something down for £5 and it comes to the counter 10 minutes later with a £1 price tag. Its people just chancing it, I think it’s terrible.”
Caroline Campbell, manager at the PDSA’s shop in Fort William, has experienced much the same.
She added: “We tape up CD and DVD cases and check everyone who goes out. Some try to take them out under their jackets but if we’re vigilant enough we can catch them.
“It’s getting worse in the High Street in general and in the charity shops. It’s worse in the summer when a lot of strangers come into town, which might surprise people.
“I think it’s just a sign of the times. Many people don’t have the money to buy things and think because people have handed it in for nothing it’s okay to take it.”
In Inverness, Caring and Sharing manageress Izzie Campbell told how a £160 bag was stolen from one shop – and in another, Carr Gomm’s Ania Couston described how a brazen thief took a pair of shoes from a central display and replaced them with his old ones.
North Citizens Advice Bureau chief and councillor Alasdair Christie claimed the crime had escalated as a result of UK welfare reform.
“Under the new benefits system and universal credit, people have to wait eight or nine days before they get their first payment and are relying on emergency loans, food vouchers and, unfortunately, probably shoplifting in order to get by,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) said: “The most effective solution to poverty is work and under universal credit people are moving into work significantly faster and staying in their jobs longer than under the old system.
“We continue to spend more than £90billion a year on working age benefits.”
Police chiefs have reassured councillors that the force is actively pursuing the thieves and willing to give whatever assistance necessary to tackle the problem.
