Shoppers blast Tesco for putting alarm-tagged NETS over £2.99 cheese in desperate bid to deter shoplifters

SHOPPERS have blasted Tesco for putting alarm-tagged nets over £3 cheese in a desperate bid to deter shoplifters.

One Tesco Express store in Redditch, Worcestershire, has come under fire after it wrapped blocks of Cathedral City cheese in security packaging.

The move has cheesed off fans of the £2.99 cheddar, but is not the first food item to be tagged at the supermarket.

Alarm nets were also spotted on a £5.25 steak in the same store.

Locals were left shocked by the images.

Kevin Richardson said: “This is only the beginning.”

Sarah Jayne stated: “That won’t stop them.”

Edwin Chaffin added: “Sign of the hard times.”

Luke Bush said: “It’s messed up.

“The people around there steal so much they have to do this.”

Wendy Lammas added: “I hate thieves, lowest of the low, that's why shops put their prices up and I don’t blame them.”

Users on X have been lining up complaints about their own Tesco stores having tighter security.

One said: "The local Tesco Express has disabled their automatic doors because shoplifters are nicking meat and cheese."

In response to an image of the cheese in a security net, another said: "Unbelievable, never thought I would see the day security on cheese."

Shoplifting has been on the rise in the UK, due to the cost-of-living-crisis, and stores are now taking extreme measures to prevent it.

According to figures published by West Mercia Police in September 2024, shoplifting was the third most reported crime in the area.

In October it was reported that the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales had risen to a new 20-year high.

A total of 469,788 offences were logged by police forces in the year to June 2024, a 29% increase compared with the 365,173 recorded in the previous 12-month period.

This is the highest number of shoplifting offences seen, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), since records began in the year ending March 2003.

Tesco has been approached for a comment.