A volunteer at a High Wycombe charity shop has described recent shoplifting as ‘awful and disheartening’.

The unpaid worker from Cancer Research, who has asked to remain anonymous, said she and her colleagues feel ‘upset’ that donations, mainly those considered to be expensive, are taken away from the store illegally.

They said ‘it happens quite regularly’, and that their hard work to go through donation bags, research, steaming and pricing is ‘completely negated’ in a few moments of being put on the shop floor.

They told the Free Press: “It’s heartbreaking, it’s awful and the volunteers find it quite upsetting.

“There was an incident last week where we and another volunteer were together, someone had come in, picked up a candle and dropped a part of it.

“We were talking but as soon as we heard it drop, we turned around and by that point, they were out the door and the candle had been taken.

“I went outside to take a photo of them as I couldn’t stop them, but they legged it up the hill.

“We’re trying to find money for research that will impact everybody because everyone either knows someone who has had cancer, or gets cancer themselves.

“The more money we put into it, the sooner we will find better ways forward.

“Whether it’s a cure or helping people get into remission.

“I don’t we will find ‘a cure’ so to speak as we have so many different cells in our body, there is a different cancer.

“So when people steal from us, particularly when they steal our new goods, that’s money that other people have spent.”

Along with the candle, items such as clothes are usually stolen from the town’s Cancer Research branch.

In a recent incident, a ‘relatively expensive hat’ was donated to the store this month and was listed for £9.

But within 30 minutes of it entering the shop floor, it was stolen by a member of the public.

The volunteer continued: “Sometimes, the volunteers get upset, especially if they are on the till.

“We have to resource new items for sale to try and make a little bit more money, only for someone to take it.

“I don’t know why people do it – maybe to sell?

“Who knows? It’s awful and very disheartening.

“I feel bad for the other volunteers because they spend hours going through bags/boxes of donations, resourcing, researching, steaming clothes, pricing and putting it out on the shop floor.

“And this gets negated because someone comes in and steals within a few minutes.

“It’s very disheartening.”