Abusive shoplifters make life a misery for traders

One charity shop manager, who asked not to be named, said she had been forced to bring her closing time forward because of the thieves.

She said: "They are so intimidating. There's about eight or nine of them who come in together.

"They'd cause a distraction by getting their kids to run riot, then they would clear a rail at a time, mainly of women's jumpers and men's suits.

"I approached one of them once and she came right up to me with her fist and threatened me. It's just a nightmare. You can't get much lower than pinching from a charity shop."

The woman, who works in the Marie Curie Cancer Care shop in London Road, said the thieves would turn up as she was getting ready to close at 4.50pm.

She added: "I rang my head office and asked if we could start closing at 4.30pm, and it's stopped since then, but the worst part is having to work under lock and key while I'm closing down the shop."

She said stores along London Road had come up with a strategy of calling each other if they realised known shoplifters were going from shop to shop.

Sharon Hicks, a retail assistant at Peacock's Stores, also on London Road, has suffered verbal abuse from people of all ages.

She said: "It's their feet we have to watch. They come in and swap their old shoes for the new ones on sale here and walk out wearing them.

"If they see you watching them they say: 'What's your problem,' swear at you, throw things on the floor and then walk out.

"There's nothing you can do about it. I don't mean any disrespect to the police, but we need more bobbies on the beat to deal with this sort of thing."

Pc John Brown, a Headington area beat officer, said one shoplifter had been caught last month after being chased by staff from the Cancer Research UK shop in London Road.

He said: "In the past, I've set up pager systems, linking shops so they can warn each other about shoplifters.

"We attend Headington Business Association meetings and take this issue very seriously."