Lewisham has the 13th lowest shoplifting rate in London according to a new study.
Great news for a borough that is apparently the ‘least peaceful’ place to live in. Add that to the fact that Lewisham ranks as the 48th most deprived of all 326 local authorities and I’d say we are looking good.
Analysing the most recent official police data, LoveMyVouchers.co.uk have broken down shoplifting figures by area and date in order to compile a comprehensive report. Figures are calculated by the number of incidents as a percentage of the population for the area out of 32 areas served by the Metropolitan Police.
The locations in Lewisham with the highest number of shoplifting incidents were the Lewisham Shopping Centre, the Sainsburys service station on Southend Lane in Lower Sydenham, and the shops around Catford Broadway.
Westminster had the highest shoplifting rate. This is unsurprising as the city includes some of London’s main shopping streets. The top hotspots were the area in and around Selfridges on Oxford Street, the area around Vigo Street off Regent Street, and the top of New Bond Street where it meets Oxford Street.
Kensington and Chelsea had the second highest shoplifting rate; with target locations including Brompton Road in Knightsbridge (which includes Harrods), Kensington High Street, and Kings Road.
The main hotspots in the UK tended to be shopping centres, where there is a concentrated number of shops and significant number of shoppers passing through. The shopping destination with the highest number of recorded incidents of shoplifting was the Bluewater Complex in Dartford.
The total number of shoplifting incidents in England and Wales during 2016 was up 7.6% from the previous year, with the recorded figure from January to December standing at 362,499.
The Metropolitan Police handled a total of 47,099 reports during 2016, which is more than a 10% increase on the 2015 figure of 42,658.
Shoplifting doesn’t just cost retailers a lot of money, it also affects us, the consumers as those costs are passed on to us through higher retail prices. When retailers have to install CCTV and other security measures to combat theft, that cost is also passed on to us.
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