Attacks on shop staff double to 3,500 a day
VIOLENCE and abuse against shop staff has doubled during lockdown with thousands facing daily attacks, the Daily Express can reveal.
New coronavirus rules have contributed to the estimated 3,500 daily assaults in stores, a survey by the Union of Shop, Distributive and AlliedWorkers (Usdaw) found.
In June Co-op said crime in its stores had soared by more than 140 per cent and in the last five weeks it recorded more than 4,300 anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse cases.
It spent £70million on store security in the last three years and plans to invest the same in the next three.
The British Retail Consortium found the main triggers for abuse were workers approaching shoplifters, challenging age-restricted sales of alcohol or tobacco and raciallymotivated attacks.
Now mandatory face coverings inside stores and social-distancing measures have caused more clashes.
Co-op manager Peter Denys, 52, said his London shop suffered up to five incidents a day during lockdown.
He said: “There’s been incidents with spitting, there’s been knives and syringes pulled out. It seems as an industry we’ve just accepted this is our day job and it’s not.”
Claire Saunders, 40, inset, who runs a Co-op in Romford, east London, said the abuse had “reached new levels” during the pandemic.
She said: “A shoplifter threatened to spit in my face and give me coronavirus. This was not the first time I have experienced this.
“Verbal abuse is horrific and has increased during the pandemic. With the level of abuse and violence you never know what each day can bring.
“Myself and colleagues throughout the country have turned up day in and day out during the pandemic, serving our communities, sometimes being their life-post-traumatic line when they had nobody else. We deserve the knowledge that we have the backing of the Government when we are faced with abuse, threatening behaviour and physical assault. This is not part of the job.”
A study last year found workers suffered “severe mental health consequences” and even stress disorder. Usdaw has launched a petition calling for a new law against abusing shop staff.
Nottingham North MP Alex Norris said: “When they are stopping alcohol sold to somebody who is underage or someone drunk, that is really important for public protection.”
The first month of lockdown saw 62 prosecutions for common assault on shop workers, the CPS said.