MORE than £3.2billion worth of items were stolen from supermarkets by customers using self-service tills last year, according to a new survey.   

Toiletries, fruit and veg and dairy items are the most commonly stolen  each year according to the poll with 23% of Britons confessing to stealing from supermarkets at least once.

The team at VoucherCodesPro.co.uk conducted the study in 2014 looking into the cost of thefts in supermarkets and decided to redo the survey in 2017 to see how attitudes towards self-service checkouts have changed in the last three years.

In 2014 they discovered £1.3bn was being pinched from supermarkets. 

This year their survey found the north west topped the poll with respondents estimating they had pinched £33 worth of items every month. 

Reasons ranged from: 

1. The item wouldn’t scan or register – 62%

2. I knew I could get away with it – 40%

3. I forgot to scan an item – 36%

4. I didn’t have enough money at the time – 18%

5. I didn’t realise the item hadn’t scanned at the time – 11%

George Charles, spokesman for VoucherCodesPro, said: “Self-service checkouts are amazing. It’s great to see how far technology has come and, if you don’t want to have to deal with an overly cheerful sales assistant, they are a blessing. However, the issue is that without workers patrolling the area, it would seem people cannot be trusted to behave themselves.

“The amount stolen annually has skyrocketed since 2014, from £1.3 billion to over £3.2 billion. The economy may not be in top shape currently and money may be tight, but that is no excuse to start stealing your weekly shop instead of paying for it. Stores may want to reconsider just how many store assistants they have manning their self-service stations.”