Aldi has offered body-worn cameras to shop workers and security guards at a small number of its stores as part of a new trial.

The budget supermarket's chief executive Giles Hurley said that the trial launch addresses growing crime rates across its stores.

“There’s an uptick across the industry and we’re not immune to that,” said Hurley during the company’s financial results conference on Monday. “It is a top priority for us.”

He added: “With bodycams, we currently have a trial which is underway in part of our business, exploring what benefits we can derive from that for our colleagues.”

The chief exec added that the new trial forms part of a wider security strategy which also now includes giving staff permission to check customer bags at checkout, a move which was first rolled out in August.

“Our management teams are well attuned to monitoring those and tightening them when there are localised issues,” continued Hurley. “It’s something that we’re working on with and through the industry to try and drive improvements.”

The new security approach comes as government ministers plan to introduce tougher sentences against shoplifters, with those caught set to be targeted with mandatory jail sentences for repeat offences.

Aldi said that a decision will be made on future usage of the cameras following the end of the trial.

Earlier this month, Tesco also announced that it would begin offering staff the opportunity to wear bodycams in a bid to mitigate abuse of its staff.

According to Tesco, physical attacks on its staff have risen by a third compared with last year’s levels.

John Lewis staff were also recently given “de-escalation training” to identify when an interaction with a shoplifter could become violent.

Additionally, in August more than 100 retail bosses from UK retailers including John Lewis, Aldi, and Marks & Spencer issued a letter to British police and crime commissioners calling on them to make retail crime a priority.

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