Shoplifting 'getting much worse than it's ever been'
It’s claimed shoplifting in the Scottish Borders is “getting much worse than it's ever been”.
And one local trader is calling for action before more businesses are forced to close, amid concerns over increasing costs.
Kerry Guiney, who runs two clothing stores in Peebles, says she’s been hit two Saturdays in a row.
"Things are tough at the minute in the high street," she told Greatest Hits Radio, after raising her concerns with police at a meeting of the town's community council.
"A small independent like myself losing an item a week, you might think that's nothing, but to me, that's a lot. It could be a member of staff's wage for that day, and it's just not nice."
And she added: “We’re finding in the last few months it’s getting much worse than it’s ever been before.”
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Kerry says it’s not just local people who are responsible, claiming shoplifters are travelling between towns to target independent businesses.
She's calling for increased patrols and also for police to respond more quickly when a theft is reported.
“Because there isn’t a police presence on the high street, we feel like that’s just encouraging people to come," she said.
“We're told to report it to the police. They'll say to you, they'll pop in the following week, then you get a message to say that something else has come up.
“Two weeks has gone past and, you know, that shoplifter's well and gone."
In Peebles, retailers have an association and a messaging group to keep in touch and support one another.
“I actually put up the post of my shoplifter on social media and I got them myself through somebody knowing who it was," Ms Guiney said.
But she added: "We feel that we are basically having to police our shops ourselves at the minute."
Police say the increase in shoplifting is being felt across Scotland and encouraging traders to continue to report incidents.
Questions had been raised about staffing following the ATM robbery at the town's Royal Bank of Scotland last month.
Local area commander, Chief Inspector David Rourke said: “There’d been suggestion that Peebles Police Station wasn’t a functioning and operational police station; I can reassure the public Peebles is very much a functioning and operational police station, with a number of officers on our response team and community policing teams working from the station itself.”
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