A leisurely browse around the shops can be an unnerving experience for one group of shoppers - teenagers and children.
| When you’re followed, it frightens you. |
Every time they and their mates visit stores alone they are watched, not just by the usual regiments of security staff and hidden cameras, but by every adult store assistant, or so it seems.
"When you're followed, it frightens you," said 12-year-old Mark Jones, of Dartford. "You don't want to buy anything or touch anything."
Children's Express reporters uncovered prejudice towards young people when they interviewed sales assistants and security officers in Dartford and Bexleyheath.
"It's the way they behave," said Sean, a security guard at Marks & Spencer in Bexleyheath. He adds: "If they're huddled around a display with their school bags and we can't see what's going on, then we keep an eye on them."
"We dread holidays, because it means a lot more work for us," said David Shaw, a shopping mall security guard in Dartford. Children shoplift small items, ride the lifts and arouse suspicions by going into the multi-storey car park.
He finds boys aged 10 to 14 the most troublesome. And cheeky replies do not endear them to the adults. "The average teenager is cocky and mouthy," says Sean. "We get a lot of kids in the centre being a nuisance because there is nowhere else for them to go.
"The centre guards move them on, they come into Marks & Spencer and we move them on. That's when we get a lot of lip."
Attitudes towards children varied according to the age the shop's regular clientele and the ability of the staff to relate to teenagers. Younger staff and those with children of their own were more tolerant.
At Top Shop, where staff have a good relationship with teenage customers, they don't have a shoplifting problem with youngsters in particular. "It's all walks of life; office people, young people and very old people."
Ann, the manager of Clinton Cards, Bexleyheath, tries to maintain a friendly atmosphere. "I don't let them know they are being watched," she says. She has had problems with teenagers who steal. She added: "There are groups that I don't allow in the shop."
John McNally, a taxi driver in Dartford, said: "I find teenagers fashionable, intelligent and sometimes a nuisance - running off without paying their fares and clowning around in the car." He finds boys like to cause more grief by showing off for their friends.
Jean, a Body Shop sales advisor in Dartford, said: "I like all children if they behave. When you get a group you have to watch them for shoplifting." She doesn't agree with notices which restrict the number of children in shops at any one time. "It's degrading to the child."
Mrs Samani, who runs a Dartford newsagent, has a sign outside reading: "Two people at a time in shop please." She has reason to be suspicious; one day a teenager came in and asked for a phone card. As she turned her back he grabbed the charity box and ran off.
"Adults do steal, but they don't run away, so I can catch them in the shop. The children run and I can't catch them."
What turns children into vandals and thieves? Sue Humphries, customer care assistant at Marks & Spencer, Dartford, echoes several adults by saying: "There's not enough for children to do, they've got no other interests. A lot of parents go out to work and leave their children to themselves."
Boredom, a need to have something they can't afford, and a desire to prove themselves in front of their friends are among the main causes of teenage shoplifting.
It also doesn't help if parents fail to guide their children.
About the team
Interviews by editors Caroline Chick, 16, Daniel Owusu-Ankomah, 15, Colleen Stunnell, 15; Delwar Hussain, 15, Sharon O'Dea, 16, and Clency Lebrasse, 15 and reporters Lauren Wallace, 11, James Ray, 10, and Lauren Higgins, 12.
