This is the shocking moment an alleged shoe thief is tackled to the floor by security in Mayfair.
An 18-year-old man is said to have stolen two pairs of trainers from a shop on Oxford Street when two nearby guards pinned him to the road outside renowned restaurant, Ivy Asia.
Police then rushed to the scene to arrest the teen, who has since been released under investigation as enquiries continue.
The video shared on social media originally wrote in the caption that ‘undercover officers quickly stepped in an restrained a thief who had just attempted to grab a phone from an American tourist outside Roka’.
However, the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police were called to North Audley Street, W1 at 18:36hrs on Thursday, 2 April following reports of a theft from a shop.
‘It was reported that a man entered a shop on Oxford Street before stealing two pairs of trainers and leaving the scene.
‘Officers arrived and a man had been detained by nearby security.
‘An 18-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of theft from a shop. He has since been released under investigation as enquiries continue.’
More than 300 teenagers descended on Clapham Common basketball courts on Tuesday before swarming the high street where some of them looted shops and attacked police
The footage comes only days after mobs of youngsters stormed shops and attacked staff in Clapham this week as part of coordinated ‘link-ups’ organised through social media.
Further antisocial behaviour is anticipated this weekend, with shop keepers in hotspots across the country warned to shutter down or deploy extra security in an effort to stave off disruption.
Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), said earlier today ‘abuse, hostility and criminal behaviour’ towards frontline staff across retail, transport, hospitality and other sectors ‘often goes unpunished’.
Ms Causon said the ‘shocking scenes’ this week were ‘yet another reminder’ of what workers have to endure.
She said: ‘For too many people working in customer-facing roles – whether in retail, hospitality, transport, or services – intimidation, threats, and violence have become a grim part of the working day.
‘Despite this ongoing crisis, the Government is failing to take this issue seriously.
‘When will this Government wake up and say enough is enough? Because that’s exactly what businesses and frontline workers are feeling on this issue.’
Latest figures from the ICS show 42 per cent of customer‑facing workers experienced hostility or abuse from the public in the previous six months, up from 36% the previous year.
Within this group, 22 per cent said they faced direct threats of physical violence, the highest figure on record.
And about 26 per cent of the 1,000 workers polled said they took sick leave as a result of abuse, up from 20 per cent the previous year.
Mayfair is one of the most prolific areas for thieves to target, popular thanks to its wealthy residents and high end shops.
Its borough, the City of Westminster, accounted for a third of all phone thefts in London last year, with 18,932 taken – followed by 5,543 in Camden, 5,276 in Southwark and 3,977 in Hackney.
Some 61,331 devices were snatched throughout 2025 – equivalent to 1,179 a week or 168 a day, according to analysis of the Metropolitan Police‘s crime dashboard data.
