Man's Attempt to Steal Drinks Spectacularly Foiled by Locked Door

Apr 29, 2023

A man's attempt to dash out of a liquor store with a crate of drinks was spectacularly foiled when he just couldn't get the shop's sliding door to open.

The attempted robbery on Monday was caught on security footage from The Bottle-O Beechboro, a liquor store near Perth, Australia. The store uploaded the footage to their Facebook page on Monday.

The footage shows the man, dressed in a plaid shirt and black trousers, walking up to the cash register.

In the clip, the man appeared to be walking up to make payment for the crate of drinks he was holding. But he suddenly took a sharp left and dashed towards the sliding glass door to exit the shop.

However, he could not get too far, because the door refused to open for him. He was then seen awkwardly fiddling with the door, attempting to pry it open, before conceding defeat.

The video then showed the man walking back to the cashier and returning the crate of booze to the cashier, Kelly Gordon.

"He didn't seem aggressive or anything, I wasn't concerned. More of a defeat, more than anything, I'd say," cashier Gordon told 10 News First Perth.

She then appeared to press a button on a handheld device, which allowed the man to successfully exit the shop.

According to 10 News First Perth, the owners of The Bottle-O Beechboro saw so many cases of "booze bandits," they decided to install an automatic locking door. This meant the door would not open unless a staff member unlocked it.

The store told Insider that they had seen many cases of "stuff being stolen from our shop" in the past two years, and that the staff feel safer with the door having the automatic lock.

"Customer can only walk in to the store after the staff feels safe otherwise the door is locked at all times. If we see a large group in the cctv the staff won't open the door for them," The Bottle-O Beechboro said to Insider.

The store added that the police is investigating the case, but the man had not been arrested.