Staff From Hell (ITV1): SWEETHEARTING, blocking and dipping sound like instructions from a sex manual but turn out to be terms describing the methods used by shop checkout staff to steal from their employers.

Businesses face a crime epidemic. "Twenty-five per cent of people are honest, 25 per cent are dishonest and 50 per cent are swayed by circumstances," suggested a security expert.

Back at the till, sweethearting is the art of giving away things to relatives by failing to put them through the till. It's not just the odd tin of baked beans - one employee charged his sister £36 for £192 worth of goods.

Blocking involves holding a hand in front of the bar to avoid the item being recorded properly. The employee charges the customer the full amount and puts less in the till, pocketing the difference. This could earn you £250 a week.

Dipping is simply putting till money in your pocket when no one is looking.

All this is being made more difficult by CCTV, with incidents being caught on camera. Not so much You've Been Framed as You've Been Caught.

Security cameras outside Brian Ollier's photographic business snapped a postman removing the contents of envelopes. A camera also caught an old woman suffering from dementia being roughly treated by carers, who put talcum powder in her mouth.

Her family, concerned that she began flinching when approached, installed a surveillance camera in her room. The results were shocking, although carers charged with assault were found not guilty.

Staff can turn violent, as single mum Birgit Cunningham discovered when she sacked her son's nanny and demanded the return of £700 of advance wages. The nanny "went completely mad, like a wild animal", and it took two men from a neighbouring building site to pull her off her ex-employer.

Even more alarming than being punched for Birgit, and anyone employing a nanny, is that this potentially extremely dangerous woman was looking after children.

Robin Craddock, who runs a shower doors business, decided his star salesman had to go and they met to talk about it. Unfortunately for Robin, the salesman wanted to do more than talk. He ambushed his boss in the car park and stabbed him three times while shouting "Die, bastard, die."

No employer is immune from bad staff, even the royals. The story of the Daily Mirror reporter who got a job in Buckingham Palace was a wonderful scoop. Yet Ryan Parry, speaking about it on TV for the first time, revealed how easy it was to get a job.

He applied through the Buck House website and filled in the application form, expecting to be rumbled when they checked his previous job references with a pub in Wales.

Someone from the palace phoned and asked if they knew a Ryan Parry. The landlord said no, then shouted to customers "Anyone know a Ryan Parry?" A man who said yes was given the phone and spoke to the palace representative. On the basis of that, Parry was given a job.

He served meals to the Queen with ample opportunity, if he had wished, to poison her food. This would have been bad news for her corgis. Parry revealed that the freshly baked scones delivered for afternoon tea weren't for the royals, but for her dogs.

Published: 11/06/2004