There has been a "massive" increase in pensioner shoplifters over the last year amid "terrible violence" from organised gangs , a retail security firm has claimed, citing cost-of-living pressures as probable reason for this shift.
According to John Nussbaum, director of service for retail at Kingdom Security, his staff were seeing a "different sort of shoplifter now" as the cost of living "pushes people to something they’ve never done before" along with consistent rise in "terrible violence" from organised gangs.
He estimated that 5 per cent of all those caught shoplifting by Kingdom staff on a weekly basis were aged over 50.
Kingdom Security, which provides security services for hundreds of stores across the country, including supermarkets, convenience stores and shopping malls, was receiving 20 to 30 reports of shoplifting a week from across the UK involving "people who just can't afford to buy food".
"We’ve seen a massive increase in pensioners shoplifting, putting a jar of coffee in their bag and one in the trolley, that sort of thing.
"For us over the last 12 months, we've got this different level of crime now. We’re now experiencing something different – pensioners, people who don’t normally shoplift.
"We’ve had instances of mothers caught shoplifting when they’re with their kids. We’re used to seeing the organised gangs, that’s the norm, but the types of people being caught now has changed," The Guardian quoted Nussbaum as saying.
"We’ve not seen this before, and I have been in security for 30 years. Ten years ago, five years ago, you wouldn’t have seen this kind of theft. We put it down to the cost of living. People can’t afford to spend £10, £20 on food. It’s desperation.
"Retailers don’t tend to involve the police when they’re dealing with pensioners. Stores tend to want to handle it on their own.
"It's not good publicity for a supermarket if it got out that a pensioner had been handed over to the police for shoplifting," he added.
Nussbaum however added that staff were seeing "terrible violence now, every day" from organised gangs, with one employee punched in the face just this week and those working at a shopping centre north of London wearing stabproof vests.
He said, "It's not unusual to come across guns on site. We carried out a big operation with police to clean up the city centre, which included the shopping centre. We found knives, drugs – there’s a lot of drug-dealing going on.
"We have a quick response unit for one of our bigger retailers which can get to places very quickly and is highly trained for a variety of incidents and safeguarding. But you have to remember that retail staff also have to deal with this every day."
"There’s no fear any more. If someone gets arrested they might get a fine or spend a night in jail. There’s no deterrent any more. There’s nothing to stop these people.
"We've had prolific shoplifters who get arrested and they’re back two days later. We have this quite a lot."
The claim comes weeks after Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported 20 per cent in shoplifting offences from 429,873 in 2023 to a total of 516,971 offences logged by forces in 2024.
Shoplifting offences have been running at record levels for the past two years and have seen a "sharp rise" since the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS said.
