Market traders in Nuneaton are turning crime fighters to stop thieves and fraudsters from ruining their livelihoods.

In what is a first for Nuneaton, police officers, market stall holders and the markets management have launched a ‘Markets Watch’. The partnership aims to crack down on the growing crime in the market area and will link into the towns highly successful retail crime initiative. The town was awarded the Safer Business Award during 2006 and has maintained a steady increase in support from businesses and with the latest initiative unites the businesses across the town in the fight to reduce crime and continue to make Nuneaton a safe and attractive place to visit.

The market traders will exchange information and intelligence about criminals who try to ruin the market days with its partners. Nuneaton is famed for its street market, which runs on a Wednesday and Saturday and the traders do not want the criminal element to benefit from the numbers of traders and visitors to the town. There have been odd cases of thefts from the stalls as well as the problem of counterfeit cash.

Police Community Support Officer Scott Loughran said ”we hope the scheme will encourage a two-way flow of information between stallholders and other partners. We will keep them informed of emerging issues and encourage them to report suspicious activity around the market. We will also be able to give crime prevention advice.”

Alan Ottey, Town Centres Manager for Nuneaton and Bedworth said “It is an excellent idea. We will give it all the support we can. The market traders are very keen to be part of the retail initiative. We are very lucky in this town that the market is keen to be part of the town and participate in any crime initiative in the town”

Jeff Clarke, chairman of the Nuneaton branch of the national Market Traders Federation said “ The scheme will obviously benefit traders and hopefully the public in the end. If traders aren’t losing any money, they are not going to pass that loss onto the public. We are totally on board with this scheme”