A supermarket has been forced to security tag its shopping baskets after a spate of thefts from the store.

Barking and Dagenham Post: Asda's Barking branch. Picture: Ken MearsAsda's Barking branch. Picture: Ken Mears (Image: Archant)

The electronic tags have been attached to the bottom of shopping baskets at Asda's Barking branch after staff noticed some of the baskets had disappeared.

An Asda spokesman said: "In recent weeks a small number of baskets have gone missing from our Barking store.

"To ensure there are enough baskets available in store for all of our customers to shop without disruption we have reluctantly introduced security tags."

The superstore, in Short Blue Place, opened in 2015, days after the closure of the supermarket chain's branch in the nearby Vicarage Field shopping centre.