POLICE are to meet representatives of Asda in Wisbech early next month to discuss the high levels of drink related crime at the North End supermarket.

Fenland commander Chief Inspector Mike Winters says the store has been “unresponsive” to offers of help, and he wants to avoid the need to review the store’s alcohol licence.

Asda is currently top of the list of shoplifting victims in the town – and Fenland suffers from more shoplifting than any other similar district.

Chief Inspector Mike Winters said this week: “The Asda store has a lot of shoplifting. As part of a district wide action plan against shoplifting, we are working with Fenland District Council in support of the council’s Business Against Crime initiative.

“We are starting to engage with a lot of stores that come up on the analysis of shoplifting figures.

“Asda in Wisbech has been unresponsive to offers of help, so we are now entering into negotiations with Asda nationally, trying to avoid the need to go for a review of their alcohol licence.

“A lot of crime in the store is alcohol related, drunken people going into the store, and drink being stolen.

“We are hopeful that the national management at Asda will engage with us to avoid the need to go for a review, and to reduce the crime level that is surely bad for them, as it is bad for the town.”