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WATCH: Shopkeeper blasts 'overkill' police officers for issuing warning over 'offensive' sign
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Aug 9, 2025
A shopkeeper has vowed to keep his shoplifting signs up in his store after being told by police that they were "offensive".Rob Davies from Wrexham declared the ordeal was "absolutely mad" after he was recommended by officers to take down his signs, which branded shoplifters "scumbags".FULL STORY HERE.
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A shopkeeper in Wrexham was left really shocked
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when police came along and told him to take down a sign
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that he'd put up on his shop window calling shoplifters scumbags. Yeah, it wasn't just like it was in the shop window
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He put up the notice, 61-year-old Rob Davis, that is, after he caught five thieves in just under 12 months
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he'd lost hundreds of pounds to burglary. And there's the notice, just sort of saying
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if you want to access these items, you need to speak to me because there's been shoplifting scumbags taking my stuff
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Yeah, so it wasn't burglary, it was shoplifting, actually. Yeah. He says the sign was meant to warn other customers
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and tell them that's why he'd actually gone to the trouble of putting certain things behind lock and key
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Yeah. Well, let's talk to the man himself, Rob Davis. Good morning to you
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I've got to say, what on earth did you think when the police knocked on the door and said to you
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you've caused somebody some offence with your sign? Well, I try not to cause offence to most people, wherever possible
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but I don't see the use of the word scumbag as anything other than accurate
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I was very... It was absolutely just mad that they even came in
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and I understand that all the chap was trying to do was give me a heads up, I understand that, but I think it's just overkill
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They have other things that they should be doing, like catching people who are stealing from shops
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as opposed to giving me back the item they've stolen to tell them to get on their way
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which is one instance that happened when I phoned the police about the theft Yes But I just couldn believe it and this is why I put it onto my own onto the shop page just to show how ridiculous it was
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Yeah, just to put it in context, you've had real trouble with shoplifters, haven't you
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They've taken hundreds of pounds worth of items from your shop. Absolutely, and I can only be as vigilant..
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I mean, I try to be as vigilant as possible, but, you know, you can't keep an eye on everybody
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I'm a one-man band. There's only me in my shop. And it's a reasonable size of a shop
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And there's a lot of items in it. But what annoys me most is this is not a shop that you go into because you need something
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You go into my shop because you would like to have something
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It's an impulse purchase shop more than anything, being retro and vintage
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And some of the items are worth quite a lot of money. But irrelevant of what they're worth
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If somebody's stealing, if I lose £200 in a month, that is my profit a lot of the time, especially since COVID
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I have other bills to pay. I have my own background bills to pay
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And it's getting to the stage where every single penny counts, as it always does
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But even more so now, small business is still rebuilding after COVID
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many years ago now, you may think, but we're still rebuilding. We're still trying to get people off the internet and back into our shops
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And if I can't fill my shop with the right goods and they'd be left there and not stolen from me
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I don see a way forward So the only way forward I thought was I can put the signs up or lock my cabinet That help alleviate some of the major thefts And hopefully be more vigilant
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I have CCTV up. I have it recording. But when you involve the police these days
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it appears that if it's under a certain level, financial level, they're not interested
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No. So what intrigues me with this is the police seem to have said to you
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that it may cause offence. Well, who's been offended? Did they tell you that
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Well, they were approached by a lady in the street, apparently. But I went to great pains
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I spent a couple of days thinking about how I could word my note
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And I couldn't come up with anybody that would be offended by it, apart from those that were willing to steal from me
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and were stealing from me. And you know what? I care not how they think and how they feel about my note
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because the note only applies to them and they are scum. Well, just to spell it out, literally
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especially for those listening on the radio, your note simply says, due to scumbags shoplifting
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please ask for assistance to open cabinets. Thank you. It's very polite, that was the thought
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I was even polite at the end of it by saying thank you. Yeah. I couldn't get more reasonable than that
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What have you done, Rob? I mean, you've had this warning from the police
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this visit from the police. What have you done with the signs
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I've left them up. Good for you. Because my writing is quite spidery
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I actually got them printed out And all my cabinets are now installed with them and they will stay because I asked the officer at the time is the sign illegal He said no I said they will be staying then
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Aha. If anything, they may become larger just to make sure that everybody sees them
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Yeah. Oh, good on you. Do you know what, Rob? Well done for just standing up to it
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and not being intimidated by that. I know the police, those officers are only doing
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what they've been told to do, one would imagine. But it's just crazy if you can't have that in your
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own shop when someone's been stealing from you. It's really good to talk to you
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and all power to your elbow, sir. Well, thank you very much. But what I would like to say
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just quickly is thank you to all the support that I've had. It's been huge
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I've had people from the Cayman Islands, Massachusetts, London, all over the world
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ringing me. Physical telephone call to me. Not just emails, not just messages
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and I'd just like to say thank you very much for all the support
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It really warms my heart to see that there's so many like-minded people
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out there that don't see a problem in what I'm doing. So thank you all very, very much
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Well, thank you very much for joining us. I must say, already a lot of our viewers are getting in touch saying
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isn't it ridiculous when we're worried about offending offenders? Yeah, it's spoken very well
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Absolutely. Yeah. All right, Rob, thank you. Appreciate your time. Well, Rex and Police
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You have a great day, guys. Yeah, you too. Wrexham police have said all reports of shoplifting are taken extremely seriously and we are committed to combating retail theft in the city
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They also added protecting staff, businesses and customers from this type of criminality, which has created a significant impact on their well-being and business, is a priority in Wrexham
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