Shop theft 'lowest of the low'

Nov 1 2005 By Steve Johnson

MEAN thieves snatched a Remembrance Day poppy collecting box during a smash-and-grab raid at a Black Country barber's shop.

The theft early yesterday morning from the UK Barber Shops salon, in the Crown Centre, Stourbridge, has been condemned as "the lowest of the low".

The alarm was raised in the early hours by Crown Centre security officers who saw that the door of the salon had been kicked in.

They called out salon manager, Theresa Martin, who found that in addition to the collecting box, a payphone and other small amounts of cash had also gone missing.

"What is the world coming to when this type of thing happens?" said Antony Kent, who owns UK Barber Shops jointly with his wife, Patricia.

"This money had been collected for people who fought to make the world a better place and incidents like this must make them wonder whether their sacrifice was worth it.

"It was probably not a large sum that was stolen, but that is not the point.

"It is the principle of the thing that matters and this was a despicable action.

"It is time that the youths responsible for this sort of thing are shamed into understanding that their petty crimes are pathetic, grubby and the lowest of the low."

UK Barber Shops and its sister company, Kents Hairdressers, together make up the largest independent group of barber shops in the country with 17 salons throughout the West Midlands, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire.