Cash-strapped customers are leaving items at the till because they can no longer afford their weekly shop, the boss at budget supermarket Iceland revealed
Richard Walker, managing director at the chain, said he has heard heartbreaking stories as he lifted the lid on the devastating impact of the cost of living crisis.
Mr Walker said households are "really struggling" - and warned it will get tougher still as the winter months go on.
He later admitted he is "not proud" that many Iceland shoppers are paid the minimum wage, but claimed the company cannot afford to raise salaries to the £10.90 Real Living Wage.
He told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that Iceland serves five million customers a week, and said many are telling checkout staff to stop scanning once the total reaches a certain amount.
Mr Walker said: “Some of [our customers] are really struggling. They were struggling before this cost of living crisis and they're really (struggling) now. You can only think as bills are going up.
“We see and feel and hear that on a daily basis.
“Stories of customers leaving items at the till and telling the cashier when to stop when it gets to a certain amount.
“We’ve got things like shoplifting on the rise, people looking for value ranges.
"It’s very real and it’s going to get tougher as we get into the winter months.”
Mr Walker was later challenged about payments for his own staff, telling Ms Kuenssberg: "We've been voted best company to work for by our staff twice, and yet now we pay minimum wage at £9.50.
"I'm not proud of that and I wish we could pay more, but the reality is to pay £10.90, the Real Living Wage, would cost us £50 million, and that's money we don't have."
He said the company is "going to have to give them as big a payrise as we can possibly afford".
It comes as Keir Starmer said it is "reasonable" for people to expect wages that take account of the rising cost of living.
He told Ms Kuenssberg programme: "It is reasonable to expect that wages are set taking account of the cost of living, which is going up."
Asked if he would support people going on strike if they do not get wage hikes in line with inflation, he told Kuenssberg: "When people go on strike, it is a last resort at the end of negotiations.
"I can quite understand how people are driven to that, they're really struggling to pay their bills, the negotiations have not succeeded, and they've taken as a last resort the decision to go on strike.
"And I support the right of individuals to go on strike, I support the trade unions doing the job that they are doing in representing their members.
"I want to see the strikes resolved, as do everybody who is on strike."
The Labour leader said he will undo Friday's decision to get rid of the 45p top tax rate on earnings above £150,000 a year.
The move, set to deprive the Treasury of £2bn a year, will save 660,000 high earners an average of £10,000 a year each.
Until this morning, Sir Keir and his allies were refusing to say they would definitely bring back the 45p rate once they got into power.
But after pressure on the party, Labour's leader said: "I would reverse the decision they made on Friday.” He told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: "It’s hugely risky, it’s hugely divisive and I would reverse it."
Mr Starmer said he would keep the Tory decision to cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p in the pound, from 20p to 19p.
But asked if he'd bring back the 45p top rate, he said: “Yes.
"I do not think that the choice to have tax cuts for those that are earnings hundreds of thousands of pounds is the right choice when our economy is struggling the way it is, working people are struggling the way they are, and public services are on their knees.
"That is the wrong choice."
