Tesco has come up with a unique way of pricking a potential thief's conscience by playing police theme tunes on garage forecourts. A spokesman said: "We have been looking at a number of ways of reducing drive offs at our petrol stations. The problem is that if you start to restrict access on the forcourt, you start to annoy customers and they go elsewhere." The multiple claims to have reduced the number of drive offs in the two petrol garages under trial by 20 to 30%. Theme tunes currently being tested include The Sweeney, Z Cars, The Bill, Inspector Morse, A Touch Of Frost, Crimewatch, Taggart, Hill Street Blues and even Prisoner Cell Block H. While all worked to varying degrees, the spokesman added: "The Bill and Crimewatch themes worked best. Just one of those strange but true things." Rumours that Tesco would be releasing a crimestoppers greatest hits album could not be confirmed as we went to press. {{COUNTERPOINT }}

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