Sep 12 – The break in at the Tesco Express in Ringland has led to the arrest of two people, a woman aged 34 and a man aged 43. It is the second such burglary in the area in recent days. The theft included chocolates and magazines.
As a result this vital piece of local infrastructure was closed albeit for a short time as employees with police support dealt with the aftermath of the break in. It underlines the increasing prevalence of low level crime and the impact on businesses and residents as a consequence. Hopefully, the perpetrators of this particular crime will receive justice.
There were, for example, over half a million shoplifting offences UK-wide committed in the period from April 2024 to March 2025. A twenty per cent increase on the previous year. It is estimated to cost retailers £2.2 billion per year. This is not a new problem, it has been getting steadily worse over the last decade and highlights a previous lack of police resource and a failure to deal with low level crime undermining public confidence in the law.
We checked crime statistics in the immediate postcode area near the petrol station over the last year via streetscan.co.uk. The statistics show this is the second time in just over a year that the petrol station has been burgled. It is not clear what action was taken by the police on the previous occasion.
It is clear that the petrol station / convenience store has become a magnet for crime and shoplifting. According to our review of published crimes there were 48 individual offences committed at or near the premises between June 2024 and May 2025.
Of the 48 offences committed at or near the petrol station, 26 relate to shoplifting, burglary or theft. Only two have led to a formal prosecution. Many reports state that they were unable to identify the suspect.
Of the remaining 22 offences, most relate to violence, public order or anti social behaviour. Of these a court outcome is awaited in relation to the public order offence, it is not clear if anti social behaviour orders have been applied to the cases reported.
The crimes are happening at some regularity across the year often in spates of two or three offences presumably on occasions involving more than one individual.
However, this is not an area of high crime, perhaps underlining the issues created by the crimes around the convenience store and the failure to address them. The overall crime rate in this area is 42% lower than the crime rate in Newport and 31% lower than the national overall crime level. Violent crime is 44% lower than the Newport average and 29% lower than the national average. The Property crime rate is 28% lower than the Newport property crime rate and 41% lower than the national average.
The police are being given the resources to deal with low level crime. Operation Lumley forms part of Gwent Police’s wider drive to rebuild community confidence through stronger neighbourhood policing and greater visibility. The Government has funded 13,000 new neighbourhood officers, each assigned to specific areas with named contacts for the public. Their work is only just beginning, and while it will take time to reverse past failures in tackling these issues, it is essential to restore public confidence that low-level crime will not be tolerated.