Coventry has been declared one of the safest places in the Midlands to shop by the Government following a rigorous examination of its anti-crime measures.

The city will be presented with a prestigious Home Office Safer Shopping Award at a ceremony later this month.

Roger Bache of the City Centre Company, which is responsible for the day to day running of Coventry's central area, said:

"We are very pleased that the work we are doing has been recognised nationally.

“We have pursued partnerships in the city centre with retailers and the police and we have won this national award on the basis of how safe we have made shopping in Coventry.

"We have had to meet stringent criteria. These have included the number of closed circuit television cameras we have installed, the retail radio scheme and other crime reduction operations.”

Convicted shop thieves are barred from the participating stores of a civil recovery scheme, who receive photographs of known offenders.

The exclusion scheme is part of a regional initiative so offenders can be excluded from stores in other towns and cities.

"In addition there is Pub Watch, where all city centre licensed premises are linked to the CCTV control room via radios, which has done much to reduce violence.

"Finally, most of our car parks already hold the secure car park standard."

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