Canterbury’s Asda store has resorted to putting security tags on its baskets after shoppers starting stealing them to dodge the 5p bag charge.

Supermarket bosses admit the measure has been introduced following a spike in basket thefts since the levy was introduced in October.

And with it costing £10 to replace a basket, and just £1 for a tag, they said it made sense to beef up security measures.

A spokesman for the store admitted this week it had now tagged all of its baskets so an alarm sounds if one is pinched.

“Sadly, since the introduction of the carrier bag charge we have lost a number of baskets,” they said.

“We have reluctantly introduced security tags to ensure all our customers can carry out their shopping without disruption.”

Some Tesco stores across the country have already been forced to tag baskets.