Reformed thief Richard Taylor and serving copper Will Davies have seen their fair share of devious thieves over the course of the series, but they hope that they have taught shopkeepers what to watch out for and how best to tackle the people who are stealing their profits.
This week they are in Liverpool, where a family-run chain of chemists is being hit by shoplifters who take everything from hair dye to condoms. Staff are too busy mixing prescriptions to notice – as one woman fills her shopping bag, it takes a beady eyed customer to expose her. The owner is a friendly pharmacist who puts customer care first, and shameless Scousers are taking full advantage along with heaps of stock.
Tricky Dicky’s dastardly scam is to go into the chemist in a wheelchair and fill a tailor-made blanket with over 60.48€ worth of gear. He then sends in a reformed thief to pull the latest scams on the other shops in the chain, including variations on the old-school price-tag swap and the crafty receipt scam.
Copper Will Davies thinks that the chemists’ regulars could be co-opted to be the pharmacist’s eyes and ears, but grassing on people is a big ask for the locals.
Next the crime-fighting duo visit a vast pet shop in the outskirts of Leeds which is falling foul of the thieves’ latest craze – stealing live pets to sell on the black market. Everything from fluffy kittens to pythons are considered fair game. Richard demonstrates how it is done when he leaves the shop with a terrapin in a takeaway cup, while Will tackles preventative measures, going beyond the usual security toolkit to come up with a way of stopping the super furry animals going walkies.
As Richard and Will come to the end of their journey, have the UK’s shopkeepers learned anything from them? Or will the battle between the thieves and the retail industry continue?
