Birmingham, Liverpool and London top a new national heatmap of high street hotspots for organised crime, published today in a joint report by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG).
The report — Hidden in Plain Sight: Tackling Crime on the UK's High Streets — warns that illegitimate shops selling counterfeit and harmful goods are becoming increasingly embedded in serious organised crime networks, with devastating consequences for consumers, legitimate businesses and local communities.
A national survey of Trading Standards Officers found that 97% were aware of suspected organised crime groups operating from retail premises on their local high streets, and 99% had seen an increase in cash-intensive businesses since 2020.
In some areas, respondents estimated that up to half of mini-marts and vape retailers had links with organised crime. Nearly three-quarters of officers reported experiencing intimidatory behaviour or threats of violence in the course of their work.
The report calls on the Government to urgently invest in enforcement, warning that Local Authority Trading Standards budgets have been cut by up to 50% over the past decade — a decline that has coincided with the rapid spread of criminal high street operations.
CTSI Chief Executive John Herriman described organised crime on UK high streets as ‘endemic’, and called for greater powers and resources for enforcement agencies.
