Iceland boss says shoplifters 'worse than armed robbers'

Malcolm Walker, chief executive of frozen food store Iceland, called for the law to recognise the impact of theft and said shopkeepers were frustrated by the limited powers available to deal with a "tidal wave" of petty crime.

Police would respond to a call about a potentially dangerous robbery whereas the "little old lady who steals a packet of cheese or the kids who nick a few sweets" would not warrant it, he said.

According to Mr Walker, the problem cost shops millions of pounds and caused "constant aggravation" to staff who had to deal with it every day, whereas an armed robbery was "soon over with".

Writing in Retail Week, Mr Walker said: "That's because petty shoplifting has been decriminalised - it's not really a crime at all, is it?

"No one suffers, the shop can afford it. It's victimless. The police aren't interested and usually don't turn up."

Mr Walker said while he was grateful no employees had been hurt in an armed robbery, several managers had suffered injuries at the hands of the "kids and old ladies".

Staff faced risking injury by attempting to detain a suspected shoplifter, while Iceland spent "millions of pounds" on security guards and cameras that had "never been used in evidence", he added.

"We have a tidal wave of petty shoplifting, hundreds of incidents every day that end in verbal abuse and often violence - but it's ok because it's not really a crime is it?" he said.

"It sounds absurd, but the weekly armed robbery is much less of a problem for us - I think our managers would agree that one armed robbery (soon over with) is better than the daily grind of constant aggravation, taking all the fun out of the job.

"Somebody please tell the police it's a crime."

Shop theft costs retailers about £2 billion a year, according to the British Retail Consortium.