Shop staff deserve to feel safe behind the counter

YOUR article regarding assaults on shop workers made alarming reading (“Attacks on shop staff double to 3,500 a day”, August 27).

I have witnessed verbal abuse of a shop worker but actually attacking someone trying to do their job gives an indication of the type of people who form part of today’s society.

Being spat at or threatened with knives or syringes is not what these workers deserve, and I would urge everyone to sign the petition organised by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) to make violence against shop workers a specific offence.

They serve us each day so they deserve our full support.

Jean Norfolk, Knottingley, W Yorks