Garden centres are having to place digital tags on secateurs and shears to cease green-fingered bandits.
Horticultural bosses say thieving within the trade is uncontrolled – and have begged cops to do extra to assist. According to the Horticultural Trades Association, greater than 70% of backyard centres reported against the law within the final yr, with an estimated £16m in turnover misplaced to theft.
Manufacturers at the moment are taking issues into their very own fingers by embedding secretive anti theft gadgets into packaging so the instruments are tougher to steal. Kent & Stowe, from Westland Horticulture, have launched their new vary of slicing instruments with built-in RFID tags to assist stamp out theft.
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The SureCut merchandise function safety tags which is able to alert retailers if a mannequin leaves the premises with out being bought.
(Image: Getty Images)
Simon McArdle, divisional director in {hardware}, for Westland, mentioned: “We were saddened to learn about the shockingly high reports of theft in garden centres.
“We aim to be at the forefront of innovation to develop solutions that support our retail partners as well as the end consumer.
The increased security embedded into the new SureCut range provides retailers with some added peace of mind, which we hope will be a welcome addition to stores.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Fran Barnes, chief govt of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) mentioned: “We are more and more often hearing reports of an increased value of goods stolen, an increased threat to staff or at worst assault, and most disappointingly a postcode lottery of police responses to reports of these crimes.
“More needs to be done to recognise the impact these situations can have on workers and businesses.”
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