EXCLUSIVE Shop crime is now so bad Sainsbury's staff have to work in glass and metal CAGE to protect them and their goods

Daily Mail​

11-06-2025

Sainsbury's staff are now serving customers from inside cages with metal grating because shoplifting is so bad.
The prison-like security measure - dubbed 'an indictment of British social decay' - is now in place at Nine Elms, London.
Cages are believed to have been introduced to protect staff and their goods - which include vape bars, tobacco and alcohol.
It comes as figures from April revealed shoplifting in Britain had soared to its highest level in history, with the number passing half a million for the first time ever last year.
Shoppers have taken to social media to express their concern at the change, which is thought to have been introduced within the last couple of weeks.
Tom Sharpe said: 'I can't understand why this is being accepted. It certainly shouldn't be. Is there anyone arguing for law and order?'
Another person claimed the glass encasement was 'not as bad as the Tesco ones'.
Tesco introduced its own screens 'to protect shop workers' in September 2023 but Sainsbury's new security measure marks the first time metal caging is thought to have been deployed.
Another person commented: 'I see they've gone with a cage roof after that vid of someone climbing over the Tesco ones'
In October last year MailOnline reported how a brazen Tesco thief with scant regard for the law climbed through the roof so he could steal cash from behind the till as staff stood and watched.
Someone commented on Sainsbury's new choice of protection: 'I think they've gone with a cage roof after that video of someone climbing over the Tesco ones.'
The use of screens in supermarkets first became mainstream during the Coronavirus crisis in 2020 as workers began to do their job behind plastic shields.
But despite the threat of the virus subsiding, screens between customers and supermarket staff have since become commonplace.
Last month, Sainsbury's introduced another major change in its stores in the form of cameras on self-checkout machines that record customers packing items.
Shoppers bagging a product they did not scan - or did not scan properly - are now shown footage with the message 'Looks like that last item didn't scan. Please check you scanned it correctly before continuing'.
The preventative measure followed in the footsteps over other major chains as well as a rise in shoplifting figures which saw police log 516,971 incidents last year - up from 429,873 in 2023.
It was met with mixed reactions from customers, with one claiming they were presented with the warning message because a packet of basil they were trying to purchase was 'too light'.
Another said: 'Thanks to Sainsbury's, I can now re-live and learn from my packing mistakes.
'I can almost hear [Sky pundit] Jamie Carragher lamenting my positioning.'
No suspects were identified for over half of the shoplifting incidents reported last year and just one in five resulted in a charge.
Tom Ironside, Director of Business and Regulation at the British Retail Consortium, said theft is costing supermarket firms £2billion a year.
Sainsbury's has been approached for comment on its new cages.