Agents have been warned not to neglect basic security measures after the trade was hit by more than 50 agency robberies last year.
The Travel Agent & Bureau Security forum (Tabs), an anti-crime group of leading travel firms, is poised to provide agencies with a best-practice guide to security in April.
Speaking at the group’s second meeting on Tuesday, Mark Beale, crime prevention co-ordinator for the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, said it was essential that staff in agencies were aware of security procedures and took them seriously.
“Most companies have a security policy, but that can be a folder that sits on the desk but isn’t communicated,” he said.
“It’s vital that staff know they have to take security seriously. Then there’s no excuse for not following procedure.”
Having been targeted by several robberies in early 2010, Tui UK has been training shop staff to carry out the proper procedures. Allan Lawson, the operator’s UK health and safety facilities manager, said the company was now linking security practices to branches’ audit scores, which affect the company’s rating of each shop and agents’ performance-related pay.
He said staff had become more vigilant and, in a couple of cases, had foiled robberies by slipping out of the shop and phoning the police when they suspected an attack was about to take place. Removing window offers from stores had also helped boost security by improving visibility from the street.
Trevor Davis, retail distribution director at The Co-operative Travel Group, said the key was to do regular training.
“The challenge is getting all staff to understand basic security requirements. We need to address it on a regular basis so agents can’t say ‘no one told me’.”
The meeting heard that there were 52 robberies reported last year, with the northwest and southeast identified as “crime hotspots”.
The majority of the robberies involved firearms or knives.