A CANVEY supermarket is being targeted by shoplifters up to 60 times a week, a store manager has said.

Essex Police has disputed the number of incidents, saying a much lower number had been reported to them.

Dave Sturdy, store manager at Iceland, Furtherwick Road, said he is becoming fed up with the amount of incidents.

He said: “The problems I am having with shoplifters consistently and daily has become a joke.

“Sometimes it takes three days for police officers to arrive to view CCTV or even longer when we report it.

“I think I have around 50 to 60 attempted thefts a week.

“I am getting store detectives in now.”

An Essex Police spokesman said they would encourage the manager to report all the incidents to them.

He added: “The number of incidents reported to us does not reflect that given to the media.

“We can only respond to incidents that have been reported to us and we would urge anyone who has been a victim of crime or has information to contact us.

"Where there are instances where a person or a business is a repeat victim we will look to work with them to alleviate the issue.

“While we try to respond to every incident as quickly as we can, we receive around 1,500 calls each day with around 600 of these being emergency 999 calls.

“Each call is assessed and we prioritise those where there is a threat or risk of harm to the public.

“A number of other factors could affect how quickly we’re able to respond such as the level of demand on our officers at a particular time and the number of priority calls that our officers are

dealing with.”

It is not the first time shoplifting at the Iceland on Canvey has hit the headlines.

In July, shopper Lorraine Hammond was shocked when she witnessed a man putting his shopping straight in to a JD Sports bag and then walked out the shop without attempting to pay for it.

Annoyed, she followed him in her car, calling the police to let them know what had happened and providing them with an address for him.