A shopkeeper has been left stunned after police told him to take down a sign calling shoplifters ‘scumbags’ because it may be offensive.
Rob Davies, 61, who may or may not moonlight as Merlin the Wizard, runs Run Ragged, a shop selling retro vintage items in Wrexham, North Wales. He put up the notice informing shoppers he had locked cabinets due to a recent spate of thefts.
Rob says he has lost around £280 due to shoplifting alone in the last year, during which he had caught five thieves in the act, so naturally the guy has had enough.
The sign says: ‘Due to scumbags shoplifting, ask for assistance to open cabinets. Thank you.’
Fair enough, you would think. For one, it’s mildly amusing and makes customers smile, and is a fully warranted jab at those who have stolen from him and affected his livelihood. But nope – can’t be hurting the feelings of shoplifters or potential shoplifters, and so police turned up to Run Ragged to ask Rob to take it down.
According to the police, the sign is ‘provocative and potentially offensive’.
Credit to Rob, he is not having it whatsoever and has vowed to keep the sign up no matter what.
Rob told TalkTV: ‘It’s absolutely mad. I spent a couple of days thinking about a note to go on my cabinets.
‘Various people saw it and laughed and joked. But then I had a police officer and PCSO ‘provocative and potentially offensive.’
‘When I asked him who it could be offensive to he didn’t have an answer to that.’
What makes it even more frustrating is that police had failed to deal with thieves in Rob’s shop, including one who he caught trying to steal a shirt.
Rob says: ‘They came in and basically took a basic set of details from him and handed back the shirt’.
I suppose that maybe there are scumbags out there who don’t steal and who don’t want to be lumped in with shoplifters, which is fair enough really. Would they have complained about the sign, or did the police take it upon themselves to ask Rob to take it down?
North Wales Police said it deals with shoplifters ‘robustly’ and takes all reports of theft seriously. Which, even if it does, is not much use when the courts won’t take it as seriously.
Either way, Rob is keeping the sign up so it will be interesting to see what the police do from here. Was asking him to take the sign down a request or a demand? Will they fine him if he doesn’t comply? Surely not…
For the Tesco thief who stole 22 packs of Lurpak worth £95 while on suspended sentence for a cheese raid, click HERE. That’s a serious addict right there.
