Game machine thefts cost trade millions each year

Reports suggest the pub industry is losing as much as £50m every year due to organised gangs stealing money from games machines.

The Observer newspaper this week reported that professional criminals had been targeting pubs, clubs and amusement arcades using specially designed tools and sophisticated electronic devices to extract money from gaming machines.

These criminals are thought to be earning themselves several thousand pounds a day at the licensees' expense. It is estimated that 20 of the gangs are operating across Britain.

Bristol is one city to bear the brunt of the problem. The licensee of Jesters Comedy Club and the Bristol Comedy Pub, Mr David Trew, said that his properties in Stokes Croft in Bristol had been broken into a number of times.

Mr Trew said: "I've been broken into three times in the last three years and the machines have been robbed five times in the last 18 months.

"It seems to be something that is on the increase and I blame it on the rising drug culture in this area.

"I've installed CCTV cameras and I employ fully trained door staff, but apart from this there isn't much else I can do.

"We just have to be extra vigilant."

Bristol police say they are doing their best to stamp out the problem.

Licensing officer Carol Ajinkya told thePublican.com that police had been informing licensees of known criminals, so that they could watch out for them in their pubs.

She added that many licensees were setting up Pubwatch schemes in order to tackle problems in their area.