Wirral Chamber of Commerce battles business crime

Jul 1 2009 by Tony McDonough, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL Chamber of Commerce says it intends to make the borough a “no-go area” for criminals who target businesses.

Chambers of Commerce North West (CCNW) has recently surveyed over 400 businesses on the impacts of business crime in the region.

The findings reveal that crime is having a significant impact on business, with almost half of those responding to the survey being affected to some degree by crime in the past year.

The most common crime against business was burglary. One third of companies that have experienced crime in the last 12 months had been burgled, with 25% also reporting instances of attempted burglary.

Physical damage to property and vehicles is also a major problem, with 30% of businesses suffering. Crimes such as fraud and internet crime are currently less common in the region.

The results revealed the average cost of crime to business in the past year to be £10,389. Businesses also reported a range of impacts beyond the actual cost of goods stolen or damage to their property, with disruption to trading, low staff morale and higher insurance premiums being the most significant.