READ MORE: Public need to stand up to shoplifters and stop relying on cops, police chief says By ELEANOR MANN Published: 10:08 BST, 17 August 2025 | Updated: 10:29 BST, 17 August 2025 Kornelia sighs when she recalls how many shoplifters raid her store every month. 'It's every single day. I've stopped bothering calling the police now'. Sadly, the idea of thieves running wild in Britain's conveniences stores and corner shops is no longer hard to believe. Every week videos are posted on social media of thieves brazenly stuffing bags, clothes and pockets full of stolen food, alcohol and other goods. Often in the videos, exasperated shop assistants look on helplessly, while in the minority of clips plucky security guards will try to take them on. In June, Thames Valley's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber called on members of the public 'stop shoplifters' themselves. But these clips show what happens when people have tried to take on the thieves in the past. In one video posted on social media in 2024 from a Reading Tesco's, a security guard attempts to apprehend a shoplifter who had taken a bag full of stolen goods. A clip posted to social media last year showed a security guard in a Reading Tesco being put in a headlock by a shoplifter The security guard bravely confronts the thief before being violently attacked in response The shoplifters then fled the store with the stolen goods in hand But the brave security guard is violently dragged about and put in a headlock, before the thieves fled with the bags. In another video, prolific shoplifter Simon Hawkins, 36, who was jailed last October for 16 months, boldly climbs behind the till of a Co-op store in Reading. The footage, recorded on CCTV last year, shows Hawkins raid the tobacco kiosk and stuff his rucksack with stolen goods before fleeing the scene. Meanwhile, PCC Barber has told the public to 'intervene'. Barber said: 'If you're not even going to challenge people, you're not going to try and stop them, then people will get away with it. 'That's not just about policing. That's a bigger problem with society, people who [don't do anything] – you're part of the problem.' Reading, in the heart of the Thames Valley, has some of the highest rates of shoplifting in the country. When the Daily Mail visited the town to speak to locals this week, it is safe to say many did not agree with Mr Barber's comments. For shop assistants like Kornelia, 33, who works at a Polish deli, tackling a shoplifter to 'stop them leaving' is an impossible job. She said: 'There's so many that we couldn't stop them all. 'The police have this attitude... the most they say to us is 'report it on the website, send over the CCTV' - and that's all they do. 'So we've stopped bothering calling now. The responsibility is on our shoulders. In CCTV footage shown to the Daily Mail, a shoplifter pockets an item before pretending to pay for another When the shop owner confronts him, the hooded man denies having anything in his pocket and walks out with the stolen goods The Polish supermarket where Kornelia Kurowska, 33, says shoplifting occurs so frequently that staff have stopped calling police Sydney McDonald, 70, claims he was nearly stabbed by a shoplifting when he tried to stop him stealing alcohol Shop owners in Reading are exasperated with the endemic shoplifting that happens 'every hour' on their high street 'All we can do is shut the doors before they come in, because we know the faces and even the full names of the regular shoplifters now. 'But the most important thing to the police is just how much they stole in price. They do nothing now, they don't even react.' Security guards and retail workers told the Daily Mail that teenage girls are the biggest offenders. Sarah, a security guard at Primark, said that young girls are the worst offenders. She says that after 5pm, when they leave school, they come in 'dressed up nicely to pretend they're buying stuff'. They then proceed to 'take what they want off the shelves, just grab it and walk off'. When security guards try to stop them, Sarah says they claim they're 'being assaulted' - making it impossible to stop them leaving. 'It's not fair of the police to say that [we should be stopping them]. They need to do something - we can't watch everything, I'm just one person. 'When they steal, we can't do anything but take it off them and tell them not to come back to this store,' Sarah says, exasperated. Vaishnavi Rajkumar, 30, says young teenagers steal crisps and cupcakes from the shelf section of the Reading Subway store where she works Cruz Vas, 60, says he has been assaulted when trying to confront thieves at his workplace, Greggs Another shop owner showed the Daily Mail CCTV footage of two teenage girls who regularly come into his shop and take sweets and drinks. He is scared to touch them to prevent them leaving and doesn't know what to do. Indeed, as he says he encounters shoplifting 'every second of every day', two young boys enter the shop and go to pocket items off the shelf. Shoplifters are so prolific here that a shop owner showing someone CCTV and discussing theft before them is not enough to deter the emboldened teenagers. It's not just an ever increasing loss of profit that shop owners suffer. They also face knife threats from drug addicts and get spat on and racially abused day in, day out. Sydney McDonald, 70, has been a security guard for 25 years, and works at the Sainsbury's on Reading's high street. Sydney said that just 15 minutes earlier, before his shift had even officially started, there was a shoplifting incident. And just last week, he was nearly stabbed by a man after confronting him for stealing alcohol. 'This man had taken four bottles, put them in a basket, and tried to walk out with them. Hong Kong Jewellers in Reading say they lock their doors and have CCTV on at all times to try and deter shoplifters 'I confronted him and he dropped all of the bottles on the floor. He then picked up a shard of glass and tried to stab me. 'I had to grab his arm to stop him from stabbing me.' Sydney is horrified at the police commissioner's calls on the public to intervene. 'It's not the public's job to tackle shoplifters! The public's putting their life at risk. 'The shoplifters, they're not just normal shoplifters...they're very evil, okay?' As shocking as it might sound, this type of encounter is common to almost every retail worker in Reading. An assistant at Superdrug said that it happens 'every hour' at the store - which is less than it was at JD Williams where she used to work. Cruz Vas, 60, works behind the till at Greggs. He said that shoplifters sometimes queue up outside the doors before he has even opened the store in the morning. Matthew Barber, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley who said the public need to 'play their part' and 'not just stand there' to stop shoplifters Reading, Berkshire has some of the highest rates of shoplifting in the country Figures show that the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has now passed half a million for the first time Vas has also been attacked before, and says he won't intervene physically again. 'Once I tried to stop one man, and he pushed me hard on my chest. I was scared - I nearly got badly hurt. 'He then picked up a load of hot food from the heated shelf and flung it at me.' 'There's so many of them, not just one, that it would be impossible for us to stop them all. And we try to stop them, but they're aggressive', Vas sighs. Most of the shop owners say it is young people who steal the most, running away quickly before they can catch them. Shoplifting in the UK is rising at an unrelenting rate. Figures show that the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has now passed half a million for the first time. An astonishing 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023. The figure is the highest since current police records began 22 year ago in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In June, at a meeting of the Thames Valley police and crime panel, Conservative police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber said that the public should stand up to shoplifters themselves and not rely on bobbies on the beat for help. Mr Barber advised: 'ideally try and stop them leaving, don't just stand there and watch, which a lot of people do, which frustrates me.' He went on to criticise the public for being 'part of the problem' and encouraged shop owners to deal with thieves themselves. Mr Barber also voiced concerns that the UK had become a 'very poor society' with the public simply refusing to involve themselves in tackling crime. He added that he wasn't suggesting everybody 'take it upon themselves to rugby tackle' shoplifters, and store owners should call 999, but that everyone nonetheless should take on the responsibility in their own communities. 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