Tesco makes HUGE change to stores as shoppers slam ‘how exactly is this supposed to help?’

TESCO has made a huge switch up to its store aisles, but the well-meaning move has left shoppers scratching their heads.

The retailer installed anti-shoplifting plastic strips to shoo away criminals.

Bosses greenlit the contraptions which sit loosely in front of the store products and can slide from side to side freely if punters want to grab the item.

But shoppers have laughed off the appliance's effect and questioned how the item would swat away would-be thieves.

A TikTok clip showing how the device works attracted sharp criticism from viewers.

"How does this stop shoplifting?" one person asked.

A second queried: "So you can slide it over and get what you need. So how is going to stop shop lifters?"

A third weighed in: "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."

But others swooped in to defend the approach.

One argued: "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."

A second agreed: "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 comes as figures reveal that 55,000 crimes a day involving stolen goods were recorded during 2024.

Most incidents are linked to organised crime groups targeting multiple stores in the UK.

Bosses are now putting millions into stopping crime — such as kitting out staff with body cams or adding security tags to more items.

Helen Dickinson, of the BRC, said: “Retail crime is spiralling out of control.

“People have been spat on, racially abused and threatened with machetes.

“With little faith in police, it is no wonder criminals feel they have a licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse.”

Previously, in Home Office stats in the year to March 2024, 245,000 theft cases were closed without a suspect being identified.

That figure was a 38 per cent rise on the 178,432 offences that went unsolved in the same period six years ago.

Among the cases of stolen goods, more than half were closed because cops couldn’t locate a suspect – up 49 per cent on five years ago.

Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesperson, Lisa Smart, said in December: “The new government needs to get a grip on this shoplifting epidemic and hard-working shop staff on the frontline need to be reassured that they will not continue to be abandoned.

“That must start with ministers making sure that officers will actually have the time and resources to focus on their local neighbourhoods and keep shop workers safe.

“Until that happens our communities won’t see the proper neighbourhood policing that they deserve.”