This is the terrifying moment masked thieves brazenly barged into a village shop and tied up female staff with cable ties before jumping over the counter and raiding the store.
Shocking footage shows two balaclava-clad men running into the shop in Etwall, Derbyshire before a woman is dragged across the tile floor and held down.
One thief is seen passing cable ties to the other who has terrified the shopkeeper into staying on the ground.
The video then cuts to show the thugs leaping over the counter and ransacking the shelves at speed.
‘They tied up my hands and my feet and left me there for five minutes and then they jumped over and nicked all the stock,’ store manager Abbie Saville told ITV News.
‘People think you just work in a shop and it’s not dangerous – but it is, it does get dangerous.’
Shocking footage shows two balaclava-clad men running into a village shop in Derbyshire
Store manager Abbie Saville said: ‘They tied up my hands and my feet and left me there for five minutes’
A woman is dragged across the tile flooring and held down to be tied up with cable ties
When questioned about challenging the thieves, the shopkeeper said: ‘Never do it, until you experience trauma like this do not go back at them, let them take whatever.
‘Stock can be replaced but your life can’t.’
Derbyshire Police said a man was charged, pleaded guilty to the robbery and appeared at Derby Crown Court in August 2018 where he was jailed for 72 months. A second man was also charged with the same offence but no evidence was found and the case was dropped.
New figures by the shop workers union USDAW reveal half of retail staff have no confidence that reporting serious abuse to the police will have an impact, according to ITV News.
London store manager Yasmin Mohamed said: ‘We’re here to earn a living not to experience the threat we have to go through. The abuse whether it’s physical or emotional, none of us deserve this.
‘The police response is not as great as it should be. When the police come it feels as if the retail workers are not the priority.’
Britain’s £1billion shoplifting epidemic has led to a major spike in demand for security guards as retail chains crackdown on thieves and abusive thugs.
Phil Bentley, boss of outsourcer Mitie, said he had seen revenues jump due to the need for security guards.
The video shows the thugs leaping over the counter and ransacking the shelves at speed
One of the thieves is seen raiding the shelves behind the till during the terrifying incident
He said the problem was placing ‘unprecedented pressures’ on retailers, which were also seeking new technology to catch and prosecute offenders.
The FTSE-listed company employs 7,000 people in retail and helped set up Project Pegasus, which will see chains including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Next share CCTV footage of serial thieves.
The demand for store security helped Mitie raise its revenues by 11 per cent in the past six months.
Recent figures from the Co-op revealed almost 300,000 incidents, often involving abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour, at its stores this year.
And the retail giant complained that officers failed to attend four in five of these incidents, despite promises from forces and ministers to treat shop thefts more seriously.
The shoplifting epidemic often involves organised criminal gangs stealing high-value electricals, alcohol and cigarettes.
The crime has now extended to everyday items from meat, cheese and laundry liquid to nappies and baby formula amid rising living costs.
Co-op said it has seen an average of around 1,000 incidents a day across its 2,400 stores so far this year, which is up by 43 per cent on last year.
These include over 1,130 physical assaults, up 35 per cent, against store workers, and more than 36,000 incidents, up 39 per cent, of anti-social behaviour and abuse.