Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Chris Wilkinson: First Retail Group Managing Director says the Government should reconsider privacy laws regarding retail crime

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Chris Wilkinson: First Retail Group Managing Director says the Government should reconsider privacy laws regarding retail crime · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Motor Trade Association has come up with a retail
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: crime wish list for the government. It wants a bold,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: innovative approach, increased security measures, more involvement from the police,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: is especially around the sharing of offending online. First Retail
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Group Managing Director First Retailers a retail business consultancy. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, First Retail Group Managing Director Chris Wilkinson is
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  Speaker 1: with me. Chris, good morning, Good morning, Ryan.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: How are you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. One of the things that caught
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  Speaker 1: my attention from this wish list from the MTA is
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  Speaker 1: getting rebates on fuel taxes. This is the businesses when
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  Speaker 1: fuel is stolen from them.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Look, I think this is something that very few
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  Speaker 2: of us realized, but the reality is that these retailers
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  Speaker 2: have to pay that tax, whether they sell it or
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  Speaker 2: stolen from them.
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  Speaker 1: So they're wanting basically the government to give them, well,
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  Speaker 1: not a handout, but to compensate for that.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you think about it, it's entirely realistic.
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  Speaker 2: You know, this is something that they would have otherwise
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  Speaker 2: been able to claim the tax on and they're not
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  Speaker 2: having that chance to How much.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know, is there a figure on how much
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  Speaker 1: gas fuel is stolen.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I don't have a figure on it, but the
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  Speaker 2: reality is it's happening more and more and it's a
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  Speaker 2: very challenging situation for the sector.
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  Speaker 1: What about the prepay because most places I would assume
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  Speaker 1: have prepaid these days, so you avoid the problem altogether,
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  Speaker 1: don't you.
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  Speaker 2: Well look in urban areas, yes, prepay is it's kind
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  Speaker 2: of what's happening at the moment. But for many of
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  Speaker 2: these retailers, they're in the provincial areas, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: heart of community businesses that people visit on a daily
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  Speaker 2: basis to get their milk, get their pies, to get
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  Speaker 2: their lunch supplies, and having the prepay model. Firstly, it's
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  Speaker 2: an expensive thing to implement, but for many of these
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  Speaker 2: smaller tell us it's just not practical.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: They want to share footage. So when you get some
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  Speaker 1: you know, some homie turning up and stealing fuel and
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  Speaker 1: it's caught on CCTV camera, they want to be sharing
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  Speaker 1: this more. Do you agree with that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, We've got to be much harder at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: We're working over in the UK and you know there's
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  Speaker 2: a real push now from the government and from the
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  Speaker 2: businesses to start freeing up some of these privacy laws
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  Speaker 2: because many of these offenders are hiding behind them and they.
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  Speaker 1: Can right so you get your CCTV catches them, you
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  Speaker 1: know it's them that's that's stolen something, but you can't
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  Speaker 1: show the face online and say, you know, this person
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  Speaker 1: stole from me because they have it hasn't been proven
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  Speaker 1: in a court of law.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. There are ways that these can be shared
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  Speaker 2: within private networks quite legitimately. But I think that they're
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  Speaker 2: starting to say, look, we know that people are hiding
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  Speaker 2: behind these thoughts now and because of the changes in
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  Speaker 2: the way this kind of activity is happening, the prevalence
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  Speaker 2: of it and the impact it's having on our communities
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  Speaker 2: and our economies, that we need to actually get a
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  Speaker 2: lot tougher.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time, Chris Wilkinson, First Retail
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  Speaker 1: Group Managing Director, talking about the Motor Trade Association's wish
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  Speaker 1: list for the government.
• 3:22
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• 3:25
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• 3:28
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