Reading pharmacy staff feel 'unsafe' going to work after spate of thefts and anti-social behaviour

• Watch as a brazen woman takes multiple items off the shelf and exits the shop, as Kara Digby reports.

Pharmacy staff say they feel "unsafe" coming into work after a catalogue of thefts and anti-social behaviour.Medway Pharmacy in Tilehurst, Reading opened last year and so far have become the target of shoplifting more than 20 times.Tej Rai runs the pharmacy and wants to keep providing a vital service for the community - but says more needs to be done to tackle crime in the area.

• Mr Rai spoke to ITV News Meridian about the toll the thefts have taken on their staff.

Pharmacy owner, Tej Rai said: "It's heartbreaking. It means that when we are coming in on a day-to-day basis, to do our work, we feel unsafe doing it.

"For someone to come in and take what we've worked hard to put on the shelves, that's available for the rest of the community, it's heartbreaking to see.

"They don't listen - they know that nothing is going to happen to them."

The pharmacy has also been the target of anti-social behaviour. Windows have been smashed, costing the business hundreds of pounds in damages.

Mr Rai continued: "The staff are either saying they don't want to work here any more or they want to work reduced hours, that doesn't work as a business and it doesn't work for them.

"All in all we've got people leaving, we've got pharmacists asking for higher salaries in order to say they will deal with the highly stressful job that they're being asked to do.

"But we as a business, making all those losses, can't at the same time be paying people higher salaries."

Thames Valley Police said it takes shoplifting seriously and encourages victims to report any thefts via 101 or its website.

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