Pret A Manger has given bodycams to managers due to rising rates of shoplifting and abusive behaviour towards staff.
The coffee shop chain has launched a trial in six shops across London and put up signs in shop windows to inform customers about them.
The company becomes the latest high street retailer to issue cameras to its staff following surging rates of shoplifting and aggressive behaviour across the industry.
A Pret spokesman said the cameras would only be worn by team leaders or managers and would be turned on only in specific circumstances.
The cameras rolled out last month, but only Pret’s security team will have access to the footage captured, according to The Telegraph.
Pret A Manger has given bodycams to managers due to rising rates of shoplifting and abusive behaviour towards staff
The company becomes the latest high street retailer to issue cameras (stock photo) to its staff following surging rates of shoplifting and aggressive behaviour across the industry
Last year there were more than 430,000 reported shoplifting cases in England and Wales, the highest number since records began in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The problem is so severe that the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has estimated as much as £2bn worth of goods could be lost to customer theft in 2024, double the amount lost in 2023.
Attacks on retail workers have surged too, with as many as 1,300 cases of violence and abuse every day, according to the BRC.
The organisation found that there were 50 per cent more incidents in the year to last September than during the previous 12 months.
During the election Sir Keir Starmer made tackling the jump in retail crime a major focus of Labour’s manifesto, and he has vowed to reduce crime rates by creating a new standalone offence of assaulting a shop worker.
The trial follows similar moves by companies such as Lidl, which spent £2m on body cameras for staff in all its 960 UK stores.
Meanwhile English Heritage, the charity which manages historic sites across the country, has given body-worn cameras to its employees because of a rise in anti-social behaviour.
In April staff at Boots were given body cameras and panic buttons.
And in March, Greggs staff started to wear body cameras following a concerning rise in sausage roll thefts and attacks on staff.
A Pret spokesman said the cameras would only be worn by team leaders or managers and would be turned on only in specific circumstances
Pret’s decision comes after a shake-up in the business after its co-founder, Sinclair Beecham, returned to ‘reaffirm’ the company’s values and deal with a mountain of debt racked up during the pandemic
A Pret spokesman said: ‘Last month, we started trialling body-worn cameras in a small number of our shops as a new safety measure. These are only being worn by Team Leaders or Managers, and are only turned on in specific circumstances.’
Pret’s decision comes after a shake-up in the business after its co-founder, Sinclair Beecham, returned to ‘reaffirm’ the company’s values and deal with a mountain of debt racked up during the pandemic.
The chain controversially announced last month that it was to end its popular coffee subscription service from September.
Launched during the pandemic, it initially cost £20 and gave members five free barista-made drinks every day. The scheme became an instant hit due to the obscene amount of value it could be worth if drinks were claimed regularly.
But Pret was forced to raise the price of the scheme to £25 in 2022 as inflation continued to hammer the high street following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A second price rise, to £30, was implemented last year.
Now the subscription will be replaced by a new scheme offering half-price drinks for a reduced fee of £10 a month.
Pret has also lowered the price of some of its best-selling sandwiches this year after it was criticised for high prices.
Opening its first store in London in 1986, Pret quickly became the key spot for office workers in the city for its combination of quick service, fresh sandwiches and organic coffees which helped to revolutionise the traditional lunch break.
And in the years that followed, it enjoyed skyrocketing popularity, serving at its peak 1.4million coffees and day in the UK alone to 450 stores and expanding its empire across the world, building a loyal following.