AS THE festive season gets into full swing, and people get ready to go out and enjoy themselves, it’s important to keep a closer eye on personal belongings.
Bag theft traditionally increases on the run up to Christmas, so many bars, hotels, restaurants, pubs and cafes across the UK are offering customers a clever and inexpensive solution to the problem.
Venues such as The London Bridge Hotel and Sheraton Park Tower Hotel as well as chains such as Park Plaza and Intercontinental are using the Chelsea Clip in bar and dining areas where they can be fitted inconspicuously under tables to guard against bag snatchers.
The Chelsea Clip is a unique deterrent, which has a proven track record of preventing opportunist bag theft from public places. Produced by security company Selectamark, it is an injection-moulded nylon hook from which a bag or rucksack can be suspended by its own strap.
Two hands are needed to remove an item from the Clip, making ‘bag snatching’ virtually impossible. It can be easily fitted to tables, walls, bars, behind lavatory doors – in fact, anywhere a customer may need to secure their belongings.
Virtually any public place offers rich pickings for bag thieves with research from retailer John Lewis showing that a woman’s handbag could contain over £1,000 worth of valuable goods including cash, beauty products, an iPad mini, an iPod and a mobile phone.
Luxury department store Harrods uses the Chelsea Clip to deter handbag theft and has them placed under tables in their bar and dining areas. The Clips are also being used to protect customers at the Charlotte Street Hotel in Fitzrovia, London.
Suitable posters and other display material such as window and menu stickers should always be used in conjunction with The Chelsea Clip as a deterrent to thieves and as a reminder to both customers and staff that the clips are there to be used.
The labels, which carry the wording ‘Secure your bag here’ can be placed around the neck of a wine bottle to advertise the clips. One London council had the labels printed in different languages so that tourists and visitors to bars and restaurants could be alerted to the risk of bag theft but protected from it at the same time.
Chelsea Clip available via Selectamark
Tel: 01689 860757
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chelseaclip.co.uk