THREE quarters of convenience shops in the North-East have fallen victim to thieves in the past year, according to a survey.

The survey by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), which describes itself as the voice of local shops, also found that 49 per cent of retailers from the region quizzed had been verbally or physically abused in the last 12 months.

The most commonly stolen items were alcohol, confectionary and soft drinks.

Despite this, ACS said convenience stores were “winning their battle” against thieves – largely due to crime prevention measures.

It said 91 per cent of retailers had been victims of theft in 2012, a figure that last year dropped to 74 per cent. This represents a cost to the sector of £35m a year.

ACS said on average stores had invested £1,700 over the last year in crime prevention measures such as CCTV, product tagging and anti-theft devices.

The organisation said shop theft needed to be taken more seriously and pointed out that almost half of ‘on the spot’ fines handed out to criminals in such circumstances went unpaid.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Shop theft is not a victimless crime, and despite the success of investment in crime prevention measures our sector still has to deal with £35m worth of goods being taken from shelves.

“We know from our survey that a significant proportion of criminals are stealing products from stores to fund other criminal activity.

“Shop theft is a gateway offence that can lead to much more serious crime, so it’s essential that these people are taken seriously by the justice system.”