Tighten law to protect shop staff, urge bosses
SUPERMARKET bosses want Boris Johnson to give millions of their workers legal protection against a surge in customer attacks.
Their call today follows reports of thousands of attacks last year where staff were threatened with axes, syringes and knives.
Chief executives of Co-op, Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury’s and John Lewis are among 33 bosses urging the Prime Minister to use a crime Bill to protect workers against violence, abuse and anti-social behaviour.
In a letter to Mr Johnson, they said their workers had been the “hidden heroes” of the pandemic and added: “We all recognise that the issue of violence and abuse is still getting worse.
“We would encourage you and your Government to use the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to provide the legal protection that retail workers deserve.”
Weapons
Previous legislation to protect store staff in England and Wales failed at the end of Parliament’s last session and retailers now want a new clause imposing harsher penalties for shop yobs.
Co-op says attacks on staff have increased more than 650 per cent in the last five years. In the first three months of this year there were nearly 400 incidents where weapons were used against workers.
Incidents of anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse rose 76 per cent last year, compared with 2019 – a 35-fold increase since 2016 – the chain said.
There were nearly 10 per cent more violent incidents last year compared with 2019, as the pandemic triggered clashes between customers and staff.
Co-op CEO Jo Whitfield said:
“Stiffer sentencing will send out a clear message that criminal behaviour in our communities will not be tolerated by society.
“Importantly, it lets shop workers who have gone to amazing lengths to feed and care for communities throughout the pandemic know that they are being listened to and taken seriously.”
The British Retail Consortium said the main abuse triggers were staff approaching shoplifters, challenging age-restricted sales of alcohol or tobacco and racially motivated issues.
Mandatory face coverings inside
stores and social-distancing also sparked more incidents.
James Lowman of the Association of Convenience Stores, which estimates there were 40,000 violent incidents last year, said: “The Government has been considering tougher sentencing to deal with violence and abuse for a long time. We need action now.”
The PCSC Bill wants to raise the maximum penalty for assaulting an emergency worker from 12 months to two years’ imprisonment.
But criminologist Dr Emmeline Taylor has accused the Government of “sidelining and ignoring” experts have
over sentencing shop offenders. She said: “There’s genuine frustration among criminal justice practitioners, the police, magistrates, judges, probation and prison officers.
“We’ve all heard the Government talk about shop workers as these essential workers on the front line of our communities.
“Yet when it comes to protecting them, they seem to be forgotten.”
Paddy Lillis, general secretary of retail workers’ union USDAW, said: “Abuse should never be just a part of the job. Shop workers deserve respect and the full protection of the law.”