London Greggs branch forced to put D-locks on drinks fridge to halt shoplifting incidents

7 May 2025, 19:40

A Greggs branch is London has placed D-locks on its drinks fridge in an apparent bid to stop shoplifting incidents.

A video on X shows a member of staff at a Greggs branch in Southwark placing a D-lock on the drinks cabinet after allowing a customer to choose a drink from the fridge.

One user comments: "They will do everything but not hire proper security that can protect from shoplifters".

Another user praises the move from Greggs, writing: "Damn right for Greggs. People take the mick and help themselves. Well done."

Another X user questions the security measure, asking: "Why not just move it behind the counter".

This comes as figures show shoplifting in the capital is on the rise.

Almost 90,000 shoplifting offences were recorded in London in 2024 - an increase of roughly 58,000 compared with 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Read more: True scale of Britain's shoplifting epidemic: Police record more than 500,000 cases in a year for the first time

Read more: Tesco installs new ‘sliding’ anti shoplifting device on shelves that leave customers baffled

Across Britain, a total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20% from 429,873 in 2023.

The figure is the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Shoplifting offences have been running at record levels for the past two years and have seen a "sharp rise" since the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS said.

Meanwhile 152,416 theft from the person offences were recorded last year, up 22% from 125,379 in 2023 and the highest number since current data began in 2003.

A total of 1.80 million theft offences were recorded, up 1% on 2023.

The increase was driven by the rise in shoplifting and theft from the person, the ONS said.

Tesco recently installed new sliding plastic devices on supermarket shelves in a bid to deter shoplifters.

The plastic contraptions shield the items on shelves and have to be slid out of the way in order to uncover goods.

The plastic ‘shield’ devices seem to be in place in front of higher-value items like Ferrero Rocher and Milk Tray chocolates.

A TikTok clip of the new devices has gone viral, leaving customers confused.

One person said: “How does this stop shoplifting?”

Another said: “So you can slide it over and get what you need. So how is going to stop shop lifters?”

One person commented: “Thieves don't care, they'll just break them off or take longer to take things. Doesn't matter whether barriers, gates, these, tags. They'll steal if they want to steal.”

Another suggested the device might be designed so that it captures the shoplifter’s fingerprints on the clear plastic.

One shopper, George Young, said: “They definitely work as someone who had these in their store it takes the thieves longer to get to everything so they might steal 10 bars instead of 30 and if they do go for more it gives security time.”

Another said: “It's a deterrence mechanism, individuals are less likely to come in and make a quick theft from Tesco because of those stupid slidey things so they will go elsewhere.”

It’s unclear which branch had the new anti-theft devices fitted.

The video, which has been viewed over six million times simply states: “Tesco’s New Security Devices Will it work?”