A BOURNEMOUTH supermarket was forced to remove meat and cheese from its shelves this week in a bid to combat shoplifters.

Certain shelves at the Sainsbury’s Local store, Christchurch Road, Pokesdown, were barely stocked on Monday - instead signs had been posted explaining why.

These simply stated: “We have limited stock due to theft. Please ask a member of staff for assistance if you can not find what you are looking for. Thank you.”

Shoppers later told the Echo staff at the store had confirmed the measure was taken in a bid to deter shoplifters.

Meanwhile, a civic leader said he was aware of the shoplifting problem in Pokesdown and Boscombe, and was working with police to address the issue.

After the Echo contacted Sainsbury’s for comment, a spokesman for the supermarket giant would only confirm: “We can assure customers our Pokesdown store is fully stocked.”

Less than 24-hours later, the signs on the shelves had been changed to read: “We have restrict filled these products. Please ask a member of staff for assistance if you cannot find what you are looking for. Thank you.”

Boscombe East councillor Andy Jones, who has written to the Home Secretary calling for the police to be better funded locally, told the Echo: “We actually had a meeting with the police last week in Pokesdown to speak about some of the issues in the area - commercial crime being one of the main concerns. Shoplifting is a big problem in the area at the moment - Sainsbury’s I know have struggled with it, as have others.”

“What I am looking to do, in connection with the police, is try and get extra resources into the area. It is well documented that businesses are concerned about things, and it has been a major issue along Christchurch Road. As with all these things, there is no silver bullet - we are not going to get an extra half dozen police officers patrolling that area.”

According to statistics the number of police recorded shoplifting offences in Christchurch Road in the Bournemouth East section, which covers Pokesdown and Boscombe, during the calandar year from January to December fell from 246 in 2016 to 179 last year.

So far this year, 47 incidents of shoplifting have been reported to police in the same area.

Meanwhile, the 2017 Retail Crime Survey showed that shoplifting is growing nationwide while other thefts are falling. Indeed, customer theft represented almost three quarters of the total cost of retail crime in the UK.

On the issue locally, Cllr Jones said: “It has been going on for a fair amount of time time. In an ideal world we would have extra money from government which would translate to extra boots on the ground. But that is not going to happen.

“There is concern about it, the police are aware. We have regular meetings with the police and we are doing our best to address the issue.”

Staff at Sainsbury’s refused to make any comment to the Echo when approached yesterday.

However, supermarket customer Peter Saunders said it was a “sad indictment” of modern times that produce had to be limited because of thieves.

One shopper said: “Head offices are slow to acknowledge it. They’re not on the shop floor dealing with it.”