Iceland offers £1 reward to customers for shopping thieves

Supermarket chain Iceland is to offer customers a £1 reward if they spot shoplifters in the act.

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The retailer's boss, Richard Walker, said any shoppers who point out offenders to members of staff will receive a payment to their membership card.

Iceland said the business faces a roughly £20m hit from the cost of shoplifting each year.

Mr Walker, executive chairman of Iceland, told Channel Five news that shoplifting is not a "victimless crime".

"I'd like to announce that we will give £1 to any customer who points out a shoplifter. We'll put it on their bonus card, if they see any customers in our stores who is undertaking that offence. Some people see this as a victimless crime; it is not. It also keeps prices from being lowered because it is a cost to the business. It's a cost to the hours we pay our colleagues, as well as it being about intimidation and violence."