Shoplifters are going to town

Spindles and Town Square Shopping Centre - 'shoplifting hotspot'

SHOPLIFTING rates have increased by 21 per cent in Oldham in the past year, new crime figures show.

In 2016 Greater Manchester Police handled a total of 17,240 reports of shoplifting, a rise of 2.6 per cent on the previous year.

In Oldham, there were 1,591 reported incidents, the third highest shoplifting rate in Greater Manchester, amounting to one crime reported for every 145 people.

Manchester reported the highest rate with 4,402 shoplifting crimes (one incident per 120 people), while Bury had the second highest with one crime per 134 people (1,399 incidents).

Salford had the lowest incident rate at one per 223 people, with 1,102 crimes in total.

In Oldham, the Spindles Town Square shopping centre was named as one of the hotspots for shoplifting in the borough.

Centre manager Mike Flanagan said they were working with tenants and local police to tackle the problem.

He said: "All shopping centres across the country, not just Oldham, experience shoplifting.

"We are actively working with tenants in the centre and local police on ways to combat crime."

He added that the nature of the crimes had also changed with centres needing to adapt in order to counter new types of shoplifting.

"In the past it used to be individuals acting alone and often on impulse if they saw an opportunity," he said.

"We are now experiencing a more organised form of shoplifting between groups of people and this is something we are actively working to target."

Chadderton Precinct and the Milne Street Asda store were also highlighted as a hotspot for the crime as was the area around Clegg Street.

An Asda spokesperson said: "We welcome millions of customers into our stores every week and any incidents that occur are minimal. We do however take the matter extremely seriously by ensuring we report every incident and by working closely with the police to prevent issues like this from happening."

Other shoplifting hotpots in the Greater Manchester Police area included the Manchester Arndale Centre; the shopping area around Market Street in Manchester City Centre; and the intu Trafford Shopping Centre.

Linda Firth from LoveMyVouchers.co.uk, which compiled the study results, said: "Shoplifting doesn't just affect the retailers, it also affects consumers as the losses are typically recouped through higher retail prices.

"With such a high portion of the population already struggling to make ends meet, the affect of increasing retail prices to account for the costs of shoplifting could have a significant impact on budgets."

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.