back to article Touchscreen robo-pharmacist calls for more CCTV snooping

A Streatham pharmacist has called for help from the surveillance state, after robberies compelled him to shutter his showcase touchscreen window and automated prescription-filling robot display. Nizam Ali, owner of the Streatham Pharmacy, was proud of his nifty shop-window touchscreen service, which passers by could use to …

COMMENTS

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  1. Andrew Parsons
    Boffin

    Pharmacy Smash n' Grabs

    As a pharmacist that has previously had armfulls of goods raided when working in community I'm surprised that this chap hasn't already been hit. Those hair dyes and tubes of toothpaste at car boot sales don't come from nowhere...

    We had to put shutters in after they hit us twice in a week - luckily it was my boss who had to stand around in the cold at 3am to wait for the glazers.

    Of course what the rogues did next was remove the motar from the wall at the back of our shop and blow the safe full of our takings without setting the alarms off.

    Luckily, now working in hospital the closest thing you get to a break-in is a dumb nurse hammering the doors at 2am thinking we're still open...

    As for robots - if his is half as reliable as ours, then he's best off hoping the burglars come back for that next time to try and sell it for scrap metal - this is the 3rd day in a row that we're having to dispense from packing crates as the motors have gone and no one can load it!

  2. Pete Silver badge

    he got his wish

    > "I wanted people to be able to use it 24 hours a day but because of these criminals that may not be possible."

    Presumably the people who stole it can use it 24 hours a day.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Police are not interested in criminals

    They are only interested in persecuting motorists and other (generally honest) citizens. Criminals get away with it as there is simply too much work involved which does not leave enough time for doughnuts.

    A friend of mine caught and restrained a burglar in his property, the police turned up two days later (after repeated 999 calls). My friend had had to let the piece of scum go as plod were too busy shovelling doughnuts down their gobs to get off their fat arses and DO THEIR JOB. My friend was probably lucky HE didn't get arrested for something (like wasting police doughnut time).

    If you have a problem, do not call the police because (quite frankly) they will not give a shit (unless you run a "Dunkin' Donuts" franchise).

  4. Mark Lockwood
    Coat

    Ladies smellies?

    In Streatham?

    Have the local bobbies questioned Naomi Campbell?

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Pete

    Didn't actually read the article did you?

  7. Elmer Phud

    Lights,Camera, Fletton

    I'm having trouble trying to work out how a camera can stop a brick through a window. Unless it's a really, really big camera. I thought pharmacists went to college, don't they teach 'em anything these days? mutter mutter education mutter young people mutter

  8. Sam
    Thumb Up

    Avec Dalek

    Any excuse to get a dalek piccy on, and why not?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Welll..

    ...at the risk of getting all Daily Mail on you, can't say I'm surprised.

    My local train station is out in the sticks on the edge of town, at least 500 yard walk to the nearest other building, at least a mile into town. We only have someone in the office between 6am and 1pm, rest of the time it's deserted. Well the train company did the place up, all very nice. Proper waiting room, heated with an electric slidey door, nice stands to wait under in the rain, all with glass windows so you can see out. ( You're already ahead of me aren't you? ). Well it must have taken about, I dunno, 4 days, before the first glass panel was smashed, then about 2 a day until all 30-40 glass panels in all the stands and waiting room were broken, the slidey door pulled off it's hinges and chucked on the side of the line! When it all initially went up, all the commuters said to the attendant in the office, why did they bother to put glass and nice fittings in, they won't last 2 minutes?

    Sorry Mr Ali, but nice things just attract scum, you simply can't have them because rat-boys love the sound of broken glass and the possibility of selling tech kit, get 20 quid to buy a top up card, some fags and a bottle of White Lightning cider!

  10. Steven
    Thumb Down

    RE: Police are not interested in criminals

    Ha your mate was lucky they didn't come, a friend of mine caught some guy breaking into his car and kept him in his house until police turned up. They knicked him for false imprisonment or something stupid and he ended up having to pay the criminal £2500 in compo lol.

  11. Stu
    Pirate

    Hole in the wall

    Well how about putting in a cashpoint style hole in the wall where people can use the pharmacy lookup system?

    It would also save on people casually looking at the screen whilst you look up medications for your embarassing condition. GENITAL WARTS . . . for instance. I had to shout that for the reference to a Family Guy sketch.

    @Andrew Parsons - You can't be serious about them breaking thru the mortar in the wall and blowing the safe! How very historic an approach to robbery! Or, if you like, the opposite of the escape from alcatraz.

    Must have been quite out-of-the-way and round-the-back for them to do this.

  12. RW
    Coat

    "preparing medicines:

    ITYM "counting pills"

  13. Andrew Parsons
    Boffin

    Hole in the wall

    @Stu - I shit you not! Ironically our shop was next door to a bank! It was a co-incidence that the wall with the safe on it was just exposed enough for the theives to be able to break in and secluded enough for no one to notice them. Whether they got lucky, or had already cased where the safe was I don't know. The annoying thing was that they were hidden from the alarm sensors by the shelving units in the shop. If they'd had stood up they would have gone off.

    At least they only took a couple of days takings - I'm surprised they didn't try and break into the controlled drugs safe - that would have made them loads more money.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @Steven

    You made that up, didn't you?

    "A friend of mine once sent a story to El Reg about a friend of a friend who had caught a bloke breaking into his car, and they did him for false imprisonment and executed him and danced on his grave and sang Hallelujah and then they came round and took his PC away and you know what? It had MI5 secrets on it and...."

    Sigh...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why not just open at night?

    These things happen.

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