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Pensioners are shoplifting ‘because they can't afford to eat'

Pensioners are shoplifting ‘because they can't afford to eat'

Times12-05-2025

Food retailers have seen a 'massive' increase in pensioner shoplifters over the last year, a security firm has said.
John Nussbaum, a director at Kingdom Security, said his staff were seeing a 'different sort of shoplifter now' as the cost of living pushes people to do 'something they've never done before'.
Kingdom Security, which provides services for hundreds of shops across Britain, was receiving 20 to 30 reports of shoplifting a week involving 'people who just can't afford to buy food', Nussbaum said.
He explained: '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,' John Nussbaum said.
'For us over the last 12 months, we've got this different level

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