Concerns have been raised after staff at a local Waitrose allegedly turned a blind eye to two men stealing alcohol from them.

James Stillwell said that at 9 am on March 5 he witnessed two men wearing balaclavas steal some bottles of spirit and wine from a Waitrose in Sunningdale.

Mr Stillwell said he reported his suspicions of theft to the staff who allegedly made no efforts to stop the two men from leaving the store and subsequently boarding a train.

“With their haul of stolen booze, the two suspects boarded the 09:11 am train and travelled to Feltham where they got off and sat down on the bench at the end of the platform,” he said.

“Not entirely sure why there was zero attempt to stop them boarding the train!”

On a Facebook post detailing the matter, many local residents came forward to express their concern on the matter.

One person said “I have passed this info on to the local NH police team. You were right to not approach them as you don’t know as to what lengths they will go to get away.

“This information is what the police would want but try and call the police and report it at the time if you are in a position to do so as that means it’s all logged and they can get on to it as these people might be hitting lots of places!”

In agreement with the previous comment, another person said “The "security " at Waitrose is a joke, the staff are, rightly, told not to confront shoplifters.

“If the store has someone who stands predominantly at the champagne section for his shift whilst people are literally walking out with goods, why should the staff get involved?”

A number of other residents also stood up for the staff saying that it was right that they did not approach the thieves.

One person wrote “A Tesco checkout girl told me a few weeks ago that several of their staff were attacked and she said they are now having to wear body cams!

“It’s appalling, many are stealing because of the high cost of living.”

A spokesperson for Waitrose has said the following statement:

“We have a whole range of measures to tackle retail crime - both visible and covert. Even in instances when we can't stop shoplifters on the day, we gather strong evidence and work with the police to drive prosecutions.

“In this case, the branch is aware of the incident described, but I can reassure you that the Partners did take decisive action to stop the shoplifters and intervened. So, it would be incorrect to imply otherwise.

“The branch reported the incident to the Police as soon as they could, and we will fully cooperate with their investigation.”