Latest news with #KevinBurton
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The scourge of supermarket pranksters: Security guards report huge rise in teenage tearaways harassing staff and shoppers for clicks
Shop security guards have complained of a 'massive' rise in antisocial behaviour by teenage tearaways harassing staff and customers for social media views. Supermarkets have started turning off their WiFi to stop mobs gathering at in-store cafes to use the Internet while passing time filming themselves 'trying to get a rise' out of employees. They also face the scourge of influencers carrying out 'pranks' with the aim of going viral on TikTok, as well as other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. Videos show attention-seekers taking items from shoppers' baskets, telling off customers while posing as staff and pretending to shoplift. Others are seen startling a lone woman by moaning in her ear, releasing insects, and shoving soiled clothes in a man's face. It comes at a time the retail sector is already having to deal with a steep rise in theft, abuse, and assaults. Kevin Burton, retail account director at Kingdom Security, says his colleagues are fed up of being targeted by thugs looking 'for kicks and social media attention'. He described wannabee influencers stealing milk to pour over themselves, locking themselves in toilets so they could sneak out at night and even riding bikes through the aisles - knocking over an elderly woman in the process. One particularly disturbing video shows a young man creeping up behind a woman browsing at a homeware store in London and moaning in her ear 'Recently we've had one guy who goes around with a speaker, grabs a couple of milk bottles and throws the milk over himself before rolling around on the floor,' Mr Burton told MailOnline. 'In one incident in West Yorkshire kids were riding bicycles up and down the aisles and an old woman was knocked over. It was all being filmed on social media. 'We've also had an incident of a guy who locks himself in toilets before walking around the shop at night.' While Mr Burton links some of these incidents as involving 'TikTokers and vloggers' he believes a far bigger problem are large groups of children hanging around in shops and harassing staff for entertainment. 'Youths are gathering in customer cafes and using the free WiFi so sometimes we turn it off to deter them,' he said. 'They see a store as somewhere they can just go in and cause havoc and then get a rise from being removed from security, which can lead to assaults when the kids fight back. 'Local councils don't have a lot of money to spend on youth clubs so they don't have anywhere to go for activities and the police are stretched. 'It's a massive problem when it comes to retail sites. Over the last six to 12 months there's been a massive rise.' A YouTuber posing as a Sainsbury's employee telling a customer he had to leave because he has 'bad breath' In one video filmed in a Primark, a TikToker takes a set of boxers from a shelf and adds in a pair that has been stained to appear soiled before shoving it in a shop worker's face The security firm boss described how some teenagers cause a scene as a deliberate distraction tactic. 'In Scotland, the kids are committing antisocial behaviour as a distraction so their friends can steal. 'We're trying to deter criminals who are taking thousands from the shelves and then we've having to deal with these kids at the same time.' Research by MailOnline suggests clips of influencers going into shops to harass workers and members of the public appear to be most widespread on TikTok - although they are present on other platforms too. One particularly disturbing video shows a young man creeping up behind a woman browsing at a homeware store in London and moaning in her ear. After she moves away, the TikToker moves even closer to her and makes another suggestive moan, prompting her to turn around and scream in horror. He then feigns disbelief after a member of staff and several shoppers come to see what is happening. The 'prankster' continues approaching the woman - who goes to sit down and puts her head in her hands. In one video filmed in a Primark, a TikToker takes a set of boxers from a shelf and adds in a pair that has been stained to appear soiled. He then walks over to a shop assistant and shoves the pack under his face, prompting him to push it away and say, 'Please don't put that in my face.' As the shop worker backs away, the bully keeps pushing the underwear towards him as another shopper offers to call security. One TikToker regularly goes up to members of the public in supermarkets before taking items out of their baskets. But when he carried out this stunt in an Asda in Wales it caused a physical confrontation after a man grabbed his shopping back before calling him a 'c***'. A video on Instagram shows a man releasing wild insects into a branch of Halfords, while a YouTuber filmed himself posing as a Sainsbury's worker and telling a customer he had to leave because of his 'bad breath'. Another tiresome prank involved teenagers pretending to be staff at a McDonald's drive-thru before telling security 'you can't touch us' as they try to remove them. In a bid to combat the crime crippling the retail sector, the Government is planning to invest £200million into neighbourhood policing and has vowed to make assaulting a shop worker a standalone offence. Ministers have also axed previous legislation that made stealing goods worth less than £200 a 'summary-only' offence - meaning one that is considered less serious and generally tried in a magistrates' court. Incidents of retail crime hit their highest level on record in the year leading up to August 2024, growing by more than 50 per cent to more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). In March, the BRC said the cost of retail crime has soared to a staggering £4.2billion last year - including £2.2billion from shoplifting and another £1.8billion spent on crime prevention measures such as CCTV, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: 'Seeing incidents of theft or abuse has become an all-too-common part of the shopping experience for many people. 'While an incident can be over in a matter of seconds, it can have life-long consequences on those who experience it, making them think twice about visiting their local high streets. 'Criminals are becoming bolder and more aggressive, and decisive action is needed to put an end to it.' TikTok's community guidelines state that it does not allow harassing, degrading, or bullying behaviour on its platform. Some of the videos flagged by MailOnline have now been removed. It claims that from January to March 2025, of the videos removed for violating our policies on harassment and bullying, 91.2% were removed before they were reported to moderators. MailOnline has contacted YouTube and Instagram for comment.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Can robots like Roxy revolutionise cancer surgery?
In operating theatre D at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary, gynaecological oncologist Dr Kevin Burton is directing four arms of a robot, affectionately named Roxy. The robot's mechanical arms, with surgical instruments attached to them, have been placed inside Dr Burton's patient through small cuts in the abdomen. The surgeon crosses the operating theatre to a console that would look more at home in an arcade and sits down. Dr Burton looks through a viewfinder and, with a joystick and foot pedals, he begins manipulating instruments. He is entirely in control of the robot as he cuts through tissue, avoiding important nerves and blood vessels as he searches deep into the pelvis for potentially cancerous lymph nodes. It is now more than five years since I first witnessed robot surgeons in action at the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank. Surgeons say the contribution of robotic assisted surgery since then cannot be overstated. This week, First Minister John Swinney spoke at Scotland's National Robotarium to pledge that innovation and technology would be one of three key platforms for reforming the NHS. Artificial intelligence is the latest tool to assist with diagnostics, and a new digital app is promised to improve patient access. But what role might robots like Roxy play? Robotic surgery has been expanding in Scotland since it was first introduced in Grampian in 2015. Companies such as Versius, Mako and Rosa have supplied robots to health boards to assist with specialties such as thoracic, urology and pancreatic surgery. More recently some hospitals are using robots for orthopaedics. In 2021, the Scottish government invested £20m purchasing 12 da Vinci robots, primarily to develop cancer surgery, particularly in areas such as womb cancer or bowel cancer, the specialisms with the highest rates of open surgery. Surgeons say robotic assisted surgery (RAS) is transforming their ability to perform delicate and complex cancer surgery - with faster recovery for patients. But so far RAS is responsible for only around 1% of the total number of operations carried out on the NHS in Scotland and further investment would be expensive, with the cost of a da Vinci robot in the region of £1.7m plus running costs. Prof Graham Mackay is the clinical lead for the West of Scotland Cancer Centre and also a colorectal surgeon. He tells me that across Scotland they are seeing huge benefits from RAS. Rates of open surgery have dropped from about 70% to 30% in the past three years and it has almost halved the length of stay in hospital for patients, who also experience fewer complications. Prof Mackay says expanding the programme to other areas would help ease pressure on hospitals. "There are still a number of hospitals that don't have this technology," he says. "There are other cancer types which we're not treating yet by this and certainly from what we've seen in bowel cancer, this has really been the biggest step forward in surgical care that I've seen during my career. "What we want is that for all cancer patients, where they can benefit from it, to be benefiting." Isobel Morrison is one patient who has benefited from RAS. The 84-year-old required a hysterectomy to treat womb cancer but thanks to Roxy, was able to get home the day after her surgery in time to celebrate her 60th wedding anniversary. Isobel said: "I called him the Tin Man, and just said he'd done a good job. "I woke up, and didn't realise I'd even had it, "When the doctors happened to be in the ward, I said 'Excuse me, have I had my operation? And they said yes'. "So then I got home the next day, and I felt absolutely fine." Back in surgery and Dr Burton's operation has reached a delicate stage. Lymph nodes are cut away, and, still inside the patient's body, they are neatly put into a bag that will be removed by theatre nurses through the vagina. Dr Burton says the robot is "fantastic" and has "massive advantages" over traditional open or keyhole surgery. He says: "Robotic surgery gives you a really immersed close-up view, a really steady view, and has a 3D element to the vision which allows you do really complex tasks." He says higher obesity rates have been directly linked to an increase in gynaecological cancers and robotic assisted surgery enables surgeons to operate on patients who are so overweight that they would previously have been considered inoperable. Dr Burton says that without doubt RAS has the potential to save money for the NHS. "If we can get patients in hospital for less time, that frees up more beds for patients," he says. "So when you get a winter bed crisis, for example, we have more beds, we have more doctors and more nurses to actually deliver the care needed." In 2021, with post-pandemic backlogs mounting, the government saw robots as playing a central role in the remobilisation of the NHS. But technology moves fast and ministers need to choose which innovations will deliver most impact for less cost, when health board budgets are under more pressure than ever. The current plans talk of better use of data to increase productivity as well as innovations in genetic testing to better target of medications. Digital support for mental health, dermatology and the management of long-term conditions is also planned as well as a new Scottish health and social care app. So who can say whether more Roxies are set to join Scotland's NHS robot surgery team? The NHS robots performing major surgery Swinney pledges action to bring down NHS waits
BBC News
30-01-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Can robots like Roxy revolutionise cancer surgery in Scotland?
In operating theatre D at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary, gynaecological oncologist Dr Kevin Burton is directing four arms of a robot, affectionately named robot's mechanical arms, with surgical instruments attached to them, have been placed inside Dr Burton's patient through small cuts in the surgeon crosses the operating theatre to a console that would look more at home in an arcade and sits down. Dr Burton looks through a viewfinder and, with a joystick and foot pedals, he begins manipulating instruments. He is entirely in control of the robot as he cuts through tissue, avoiding important nerves and blood vessels as he searches deep into the pelvis for potentially cancerous lymph nodes. It is now more than five years since I first witnessed robot surgeons in action at the Golden Jubilee hospital in say the contribution of robotic assisted surgery since then cannot be week, First Minister John Swinney spoke at Scotland's National Robotarium to pledge that innovation and technology would be one of three key platforms for reforming the NHS. Artificial intelligence is the latest tool to assist with diagnostics, and a new digital app is promised to improve patient access. But what role might robots like Roxy play? Robotic surgery has been expanding in Scotland since it was first introduced in Grampian in 2015. Companies such as Versius, Mako and Rosa have supplied robots to health boards to assist with specialties such as thoracic, urology and pancreatic surgery. More recently some hospitals are using robots for 2021, the Scottish government invested £20m purchasing 12 da Vinci robots, primarily to develop cancer surgery, particularly in areas such as womb cancer or bowel cancer, the specialisms with the highest rates of open say robotic assisted surgery (RAS) is transforming their ability to perform delicate and complex cancer surgery - with faster recovery for so far RAS is responsible for only around 1% of the total number of operations carried out on the NHS in Scotland and further investment would be expensive, with the cost of a da Vinci robot in the region of £1.7m plus running costs. Prof Graham Mackay is the clinical lead for the West of Scotland Cancer Centre and also a colorectal surgeon. He tells me that across Scotland they are seeing huge benefits from RAS. Rates of open surgery have dropped from about 70% to 30% in the past three years and it has almost halved the length of stay in hospital for patients, who also experience fewer Mackay says expanding the programme to other areas would help ease pressure on hospitals."There are still a number of hospitals that don't have this technology," he says. "There are other cancer types which we're not treating yet by this and certainly from what we've seen in bowel cancer, this has really been the biggest step forward in surgical care that I've seen during my career. "What we want is that for all cancer patients, where they can benefit from it, to be benefiting." Isobel Morrison is one patient who has benefited from RAS. The 84-year-old required a hysterectomy to treat womb cancer but thanks to Roxy, was able to get home the day after her surgery in time to celebrate her 60th wedding said: "I called him the Tin Man, and just said he'd done a good job. "I woke up, and didn't realise I'd even had it, "When the doctors happened to be in the ward, I said 'Excuse me, have I had my operation? And they said yes'. "So then I got home the next day, and I felt absolutely fine." Back in surgery and Dr Burton's operation has reached a delicate stage. Lymph nodes are cut away, and, still inside the patient's body, they are neatly put into a bag that will be removed by theatre nurses through the Burton says the robot is "fantastic" and has "massive advantages" over traditional open or keyhole says: "Robotic surgery gives you a really immersed close-up view, a really steady view, and has a 3D element to the vision which allows you do really complex tasks."He says higher obesity rates have been directly linked to an increase in gynaecological cancers and robotic assisted surgery enables surgeons to operate on patients who are so overweight that they would previously have been considered Burton says that without doubt RAS has the potential to save money for the NHS."If we can get patients in hospital for less time, that frees up more beds for patients," he says. "So when you get a winter bed crisis, for example, we have more beds, we have more doctors and more nurses to actually deliver the care needed." In 2021, with post-pandemic backlogs mounting, the government saw robots as playing a central role in the remobilisation of the technology moves fast and ministers need to choose which innovations will deliver most impact for less cost, when health board budgets are under more pressure than current plans talk of better use of data to increase productivity as well as innovations in genetic testing to better target of support for mental health, dermatology and the management of long-term conditions is also planned as well as a new Scottish health and social care who can say whether more Roxies are set to join Scotland's NHS robot surgery team?
