Shop workers tell shocking stories of verbal and physical abuse
SHOP workers in Leicestershire have shared their shocking experiences facing abuse and physical attacks while doing their job.
Retail union Usdaw surveyed frontline retail workers across the East Midlands, with 90% reporting verbal abuse and 64% saying they had been threatened by a customer.
One worker from Leicestershire said: “In one case, I had a case of Budweiser thrown at me.”
Respondents were invited to leave anonymous feedback to the survey.
Another employee who works in the region said a customer had “threatened to punch me because I wouldn’t give them a refund on a non-faulty item after the 30-day guarantee had ended”.
In December last year, a customer at a chip shop in Barwell turned aggressive and spat on a worker.
Workers sometimes face violence at the hands of thieves as well.
Last month, a shoplifter was given a five-month sentence, after he punched a security guard and bit his hand after being caught shoplifting at the Rushes Shopping Centre in Loughborough.
In October 2021, a worker at the Co-op in Knightthorpe Road, Loughborough, was left with a double fracture to his jaw after he was punched in the face twice by a thief.
A petrol station worker in Nottinghamshire said they had even been hit by a car driven by an angry customer.
Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “Violence and abuse is not an acceptable part of the job and it is truly horrific that shopworkers are having to face it on a daily basis.
“Faced with such appallingly high levels of violence and abuse, and with shopworkers’ almost complete lack of confidence in the ability of the system to give them the protection they need, much more needs to be done.
“The Government must provide the co-ordination needed to ensure that retail employers, police and the courts work together to make stores safe places for our members to work and for customers to shop.”
Reported assaults on workers across the East Midlands have increased by one third compared to last year.