Chris Wilkinson: First Retail Group Managing Director says the Government should reconsider privacy laws regarding retail crime

There are calls for the Government to reconsider privacy laws when it comes to retail crime. 

The Motor Trade Association is asking for bold changes after a rise in smash-and-grabs and drive off fuel theft. 

First Retail Group Managing Director Chris Wilkinson told Ryan Bridge retailers should be allowed to publish CCTV video of thieves on social media to deter the crime. 

He says currently it's against the law, and thieves are hiding behind it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Motor Trade Association has come up with a retail
crime wish list for the government. It wants a bold,
innovative approach, increased security measures, more involvement from the police,
is especially around the sharing of offending online. First Retail
Group Managing Director First Retailers a retail business consultancy. By
the way, First Retail Group Managing Director Chris Wilkinson is

(00:23):
with me. Chris, good morning, Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
How are you.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm well, thank you. One of the things that caught
my attention from this wish list from the MTA is
getting rebates on fuel taxes. This is the businesses when
fuel is stolen from them.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Absolutely. Look, I think this is something that very few
of us realized, but the reality is that these retailers
have to pay that tax, whether they sell it or
stolen from them.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
So they're wanting basically the government to give them, well,
not a handout, but to compensate for that.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and when you think about it, it's entirely realistic.
You know, this is something that they would have otherwise
been able to claim the tax on and they're not
having that chance to How much.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Do you know, is there a figure on how much
gas fuel is stolen.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Look, I don't have a figure on it, but the
reality is it's happening more and more and it's a
very challenging situation for the sector.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
What about the prepay because most places I would assume
have prepaid these days, so you avoid the problem altogether,
don't you.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well look in urban areas, yes, prepay is it's kind
of what's happening at the moment. But for many of
these retailers, they're in the provincial areas, you know, the
heart of community businesses that people visit on a daily
basis to get their milk, get their pies, to get
their lunch supplies, and having the prepay model. Firstly, it's

(01:56):
an expensive thing to implement, but for many of these
smaller tell us it's just not practical.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
They want to share footage. So when you get some
you know, some homie turning up and stealing fuel and
it's caught on CCTV camera, they want to be sharing
this more. Do you agree with that?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, absolutely, We've got to be much harder at the moment.
We're working over in the UK and you know there's
a real push now from the government and from the
businesses to start freeing up some of these privacy laws
because many of these offenders are hiding behind them and they.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Can right so you get your CCTV catches them, you
know it's them that's that's stolen something, but you can't
show the face online and say, you know, this person
stole from me because they have it hasn't been proven
in a court of law.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
That's right. There are ways that these can be shared
within private networks quite legitimately. But I think that they're
starting to say, look, we know that people are hiding
behind these thoughts now and because of the changes in
the way this kind of activity is happening, the prevalence
of it and the impact it's having on our communities
and our economies, that we need to actually get a

(03:12):
lot tougher.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Thanks so much for your time, Chris Wilkinson, First Retail
Group Managing Director, talking about the Motor Trade Association's wish
list for the government.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
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