THE shoplifting hotpots in East Lancashire have been revealed in a new survey.

Analysing the most recent official police data, LoveMyVouchers.co.uk has broken down the figures by area and date in order to compile the new report.

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Lancashire Police handled a total of 8,049 complaints in 2016, which was up 2.4 per cent on the previous year’s figure of 7,860.

When weighted by population, the service had the 12th lowest shoplifting rate out of 42 police force areas in England and Wales.

Of the boroughs in East Lancashire, Burnley had the highest shoplifting rate, the number of incidents as a percentage of the population for the area.

There were 652 incidents in 2016 while in Blackburn with Darwen there were more at 887.

The rate is higher in Burnley as it has a smaller population, 87,400 as opposed to 146,800 in Blackburn.

Hyndburn had 474 shoplifting crimes while Pendle had 375 and Rossendale 243.

The locations in Lancashire with the highest number of shoplifting incidents were the Hounds Hill Shopping Centre in Blackpool, the area around the St George’s Shopping Centre in Preston, The Mall Blackburn, Deepdale Shopping Retail Park in Preston and the area around the Arndale in Accrington.

When weighted by population, Ribble Valley had the lowest shoplifting levels in the region with just 100 crimes.

The figures were taken from the police database and were complied in order to reveal the areas with the highest and lowest shoplifting rates.

Linda Firth from LoveMyVouchers.co.uk said: “Shoplifting doesn’t just affect the retailers, it also affects consumers as the losses are typically recouped through higher retail prices.

“With such a high portion of the population already struggling to make ends meet, the affect of increasing retail prices to account for the costs of shoplifting could have a significant impact on budgets.”

There were more incidents of shoplifting in Preston than in any other Lancashire town during 2016, with 1,197 reported crimes.

Blackpool had 1134 for 2016, with that number actually reducing 14.2 from the 2015.

The total number of shoplifting incidents in England and Wales during 2016 was up 7.6 per cent from the previous 346 areas in England and Wales, with the recorded figure from January to December standing at 362,499.

Retail crime cost the industry £613m in 2014/2015, up two per cent on the previous year, according to the report's authors.

Bosses at The Mall Blackburn and Accrington Arndale declined to comment on the figures.