Despite a prominent CCTV camera at the back dock of the O’Connell St store, thieves ransacked piles of donated goods on no less than six separate occasions over the weekend.

Manager Lloyd Stanimirovic is so fed up with the constant thefts he has begun sending all CCTV footage to police and vowed to “name and shame” offenders in the media where possible.

He has even placed a copy of last week’s Leader article titled “Uncaring, calculating cowards” on the back dock along with a handwritten sign that states “Don’t be next. If you steal from here, you will become a star on TV or newspaper or both, and be prosecuted”.

“We’re simply not going to put up with it anymore,” Mr Stanimirovic said. “We’re going to follow this through and shame people in the media where we can – it’s very disheartening.”

Among the thieves to raid the dock on the weekend were what appeared to be a grandmother and her young grandson, a group of four people in a white station wagon and a lone woman who donated a bag of items before stealing a number of other bags.

The thefts, which were all captured on camera, took place between midday on Saturday and 11.45pm on Sunday.

“I was actually driving in on Sunday when the grandmother was driving out and she gave me that ‘nearly got caught’ smile,” Mr Stanimirovic said.

“I ran straight inside to check the footage and sure enough they had stolen. The worst part is it seemed she was doing it with her grandson, who looked only 10 years old.”

He said he had taken down the woman’s number plate and forwarded it, with the CCTV footage, onto police.

“I’m feeling so frustrated and amazed by this whole situation,” he said.

“We’re here to help people and it’s hard when you get a section of the community stealing from us.”