Video has been captured of a brazen thief stealing nine drinks from a Greggs high street as shocked staff and customers watch helplessly.
The disgraceful incident took place on Monday, November 11 at the bakery chain’s Norwood Junction branch in south London.
Footage captured by an onlooker in the store shows the shoplifter squeezing two bottles of Lucozade sport, five Coca-Colas and two other drinks.
The thief, who was wearing a sweater with the hood pulled up and a Covid-19 style mask, could be witnessed making a hand gesture to the person filming as they finished raiding the fridge.
As they left the store, the thief even had time to greet the stunned bystander.
Staff were unable to stop the man and watched in disbelief from behind the till as the thief made off with his Waitrose bag full of stolen drinks.
The incident is the latest in a series of shoplifting incidents in which Greggs has been targeted. In September, three separate incidents of theft were filmed in just 20 minutes at one of the bakery’s stores in north London.
The brazen thief was filmed stealing nine drinks from the Greggs in Norwood Junction, south London
The thief’s shoplifting escapades went unchallenged by the shocked staff
The shoplifter, disguised in a hood and mask, was seen greeting the bystander while filming him as he left the store
The incident is the latest in a series of shoplifting incidents to hit Greggs
The apparent increase in the frequency with which high street chains such as Greggs are shoplifting is indicative of the latest figures that underline Britain’s attitude to crime.
A YouGov poll published last week found that more than half of the British public think it is acceptable to steal food if someone is going hungry.
Another 40 percent of respondents thought shoplifting of food products was okay if they were unaffordable, while 44 percent believed theft of baby products was acceptable under the same circumstances.
However, the survey found that there is a colossal generational gap in these opinions, with 80 percent of 18-24 year olds considering it acceptable to steal food if someone is going hungry.
Meanwhile, only a third of retirees found this acceptable, while only a quarter of over-65s consider the theft of baby products to be okay.
However, opinions on the police’s approach to the shoplifting epidemic were less divided, with three-quarters of all respondents believing that authorities could do more to tackle the problem.
Official statistics also point to worsening shoplifting rates, with police recording 469,788 shoplifting incidents in the year to June, a steep 29 percent increase on the previous year, equating to more than 1,200 offenses a day.
Retailers such as Greggs have stated that this wave of shoplifting is adding an extra 6p to every transaction, with less than half of cases ultimately being resolved.
The true scale of the problem is believed to be significantly greater, with many violations going unrecorded or unreported.