The chair of Marks & Spencer has warned that self-checkout machines are driving a rise in shoplifting among 'good, honest people'. Archie Norman, who has led the retailer since 2017, told The Telegraph that the 'human link' between customers and shops has been broken by the presence of automated checkouts. However, he stressed that supermarkets should not be forced to remove them if they wish to curb theft.
Norman's Concerns
Mr Norman explained: 'When normally good, honest people come in and they’re buying their shopping and it doesn’t scan, and there’s nobody manning the checkouts, they’re saying: “It’s not my fault and I don’t have much time so if I can’t get my strawberries through, I’ll just put them in my basket.”' The former MP for Tunbridge Wells (1997-2001) said that levels of theft mean shops must 'make the technology easier for people to use'.
Recent Incidents
His comments follow an incident at the M&S Food store in Clapham, south London, where a group of teenagers stormed the area during an Easter holiday 'link up', causing people to barricade themselves inside shops. Footage showed large crowds of young people, many wearing masks, gathering on Clapham High Street in late March, forcing several supermarkets to close. Regarding these events, Mr Norman said self-checkouts were not to blame, instead calling for a more active police response: 'When you have gangs of kids coming in and sweeping the shelves, that’s a police event and it requires an active police response. When something like that starts to become common, it says to everybody, including ordinary citizens, that it’s not safe.'
Statistics and Responses
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows shoplifting offences fell by one per cent to 509,566 in the year ending December 2025. However, Lucy Whing, crime policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), argued that the ONS statistics 'underestimate' the issue as they only capture reported incidents. According to the BRC, there were 5.5 million detected theft incidents last year. Ms Whing said: 'The causes are manifold, but the rise in organised crime is particularly worrying as gangs systematically target one store after another across the country.'
Police Initiatives
The Metropolitan Police reported this week that it is solving 50 per cent more shoplifting cases in areas trialling new technology designed to rapidly identify suspects. Since January, technology allowing retailers to submit reports and CCTV footage instantly has been piloted in areas such as Lewisham and central London. The Met stated that providing officers with immediate access to high-quality evidence at the point of reporting makes identifying repeat offenders across boroughs easier. Since its rollout, the positive outcome rate – defined as an arrest, charge or conviction – is 21.4 per cent, above the Met average of 14 per cent. Last year, the Met said it solved almost twice as many shoplifting offences and made almost 50 per cent more arrests.
