Latest news with #Westminster Council
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Telegraph
London's crimewave is becoming a shameless business opportunity
'Mind the grab.' If you needed any more proof that Britain's once great capital is on the slide, look no further than London's latest awareness-raising campaign. Electrical retailer Currys, in partnership with Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police, has plastered garish purple strips on the Oxford Street pavement, urging absent-minded scrollers to 'Step back from the kerb!' in an attempt to reduce phone theft. Londoners have for some time now had to contend with black-clad thieves on enormous e-bikes, snatching phones from their hands. Last year, 80,000 phones were stolen in London, up a quarter from 2023. Just as our beloved mayor Sadiq Khan once infamously said that terror attacks are, regrettably, 'part and parcel of living in a big city', so it seems is stepping into a doorway to check Citymapper, clutching your iPhone with both hands, for fear of the balaclava boys. This campaign-cum-publicity-stunt is being pitched as an act of defiance. 'Phone theft isn't just about losing a device – it's frightening, invasive and cuts people off from their loved ones, their money and their daily lives,' runs the Currys press release. 'Enough is enough.' In truth, it's another sign of surrender, in which we are essentially told to take criminality for granted and adjust our behaviour accordingly. Of course you should keep your wits about you in town. But that surely shouldn't mean treating the phone in your pocket as if it were a bar of bullion, practically asking to be nicked if waved around. It's particularly galling to see the police involved with this campaign, given it is, you know, their job to arrest criminals. You would think that the one upside of living in the most surveilled city this side of Xinjiang is that the armed wing of the state would be able to locate and crack down on sinister bike gangs terrorising locals and tourists. Presumably they've got too many misgenderings to attend to. It's another grim sign of the times. Quite literally. London is now plastered with public-information campaigns that seem to wearily acknowledge that things have gone badly awry – that society has come to see itself as helpless in the face of theft, violence and anti-social behaviour. Hop on the Underground and you'll be instructed not to stare at women, or press your genitals against them. (Who knew?!) I can't work out what's worse: Transport for London thinking it needs to tell men this isn't on, or its naive belief that a committed creep, upskirting selfie stick in hand, would clock these ads and instantly realise the error of his ways. Another series of Tube posters give bystanders tips on how to intervene, including asking the sexually harassed party what the time is, or what the next stop is, in order to 'defuse' an incident. I'm all for Londoners looking after each other, and by much more robust means than asking a few questions. But how depressing it is that, in these atomised times, we apparently need to be told to do so – and are furnished with such meek tactics to boot. Perhaps I'm overthinking it. But signage surely tells us something about the society in which we live. What its norms are, or should be. What the state or businesses expect of us, rightly or wrongly. And the message I'm getting from these awareness-raising campaigns is a mix of the despairing, the patronising and the passive aggressive. What next? 'Thank you for not groping'? We're told to adapt to spiralling crime, because the state is supposedly incapable of stopping it. Individuals feel fearful of dealing with miscreants themselves, and so must be gently encouraged to be a little braver. We are all subjected to constant hectoring, because we seem to have given up on arresting – or slapping – the problematic few. Mind the grab? How about the police catch the criminals, and let Londoners take care of the rest.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Purple lines have been painted on Oxford Street. Here's why
Currys, the UK's largest electrical retailer, has launched a 'mind the grab' campaign in London to combat the surge in phone snatching. The initiative involves painting purple lines on Oxford Street pavements, advising shoppers to step away from the kerb and keep their mobile phones hidden. This campaign, a collaboration with police and Westminster Council, addresses the rising issue of phone theft, often by criminals on mopeds or e-bikes. Data reveals a significant problem, with 94 phones stolen daily last year across the UK, and 34,203 thefts recorded in Westminster in 2024. Currys is also training staff to support victims and provide safety advice to customers.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Telegraph
‘Mind the Grab': Currys tells Oxford Street shoppers ‘don't use phones on pavement'
Britain's biggest electrical retailer has warned people not to use mobile phones near the edge of pavements after a surge of thefts in the capital. Purple lines have been painted along Oxford Street to remind pedestrians to step back from the kerb and keep their mobiles hidden. The move, which is modelled on the Tube's iconic yellow 'mind the gap' lines, is part of a campaign by Currys to help eradicate phone theft on high streets – with a phone stolen on average every 15 minutes in Westminster last year. The thefts often involve criminals on mopeds or e-bikes snatching phones straight from people's hands on busy pavements. New anti-theft signage will also be installed on Oxford Street as part of the 'Mind the Grab' campaign, which has been backed by Westminster Council, the Metropolitan Police, and the charity Crimestoppers. Ed Connolly, the chief commercial officer at Currys, said: 'Phone theft isn't just about losing a device – it's frightening, invasive, and cuts people off from their loved ones, their money, and their daily lives. 'Enough is enough. It's time to draw the line on phone theft – that's why we've launched the Mind the Grab campaign: a bold pavement marking we believe can make a real difference by encouraging people to step back from the kerb.' Westminster Council has granted permission for the study to be tried on one of the capital's busiest streets. Deputy leader Aicha Less said: 'This campaign is a great example of how we are working with partners to raise awareness about phone thefts and promote simple measures to stay safe in public spaces, such as keeping valuables out of sight and planning routes home in advance.' Some 34,203 mobile phones were stolen in Westminster in 2024 – equivalent to 94 a day, an FOI request to the Met revealed. And some 77 per cent of British people view 'phone snatching' as a significant problem in the UK, rising to 88 per cent in large cities such as London, research commissioned by Currys found. The issue is causing 73 per cent of people to feel fearful of having their phone stolen when in the capital, according to the study, which sampled more than 2,700 respondents. Currys has trained staff at its Oxford Street store to support victims of phone theft, including contacting their family and the police, cancelling cards, and helping them get home safely. The retailer, which is working in partnership with the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), based at Birkbeck, University of London, said it hoped the campaign would change the public's behaviour. A spokesman from ICPR said: 'The research team at Birkbeck are very excited to be involved in this pilot and to observe how the use of a simple nudge technique - a vibrant purple line on the pavement – coupled with a play on a well-known phrase to all London Underground commuters – 'Mind the Gap' – can influence behavioural change in pedestrians in phone snatching hot-spots'.
