Shop staff get bodycams due to 'daily abuse'

A supermarket chain is giving body cameras to staff following a rise in abuse by customers.

Lincolnshire Co-op has spent £200,000 issuing the technology at its 99 food shops and 44 pharmacies.

Security manager Mark Foulds said there had been "a steady increase" in confrontations, with staff at some stores experiencing "threats and abuse on a daily basis".

The government has pledged to bring in a specific offence of assaulting a shop worker, alongside stronger measures to tackle shoplifting.

Shop assistant Reagan Bennie says he feels safer with a camera

The cameras have been introduced after a six-month trial. They are worn on the chest and activated by the flick of a switch.

Customers are able to see themselves being filmed on a forward-facing screen.

Shop assistant Reagan Bennie, who took part the trial, said he felt "a lot safer".

"People back down when they see they are being filmed," he said.

Store manager Sarah Hutt said customers were "generally friendly" and "pleasant", but confrontations were becoming more common.

"People seem to have lost their filter and they seem to trigger very easily compared to the past," she said.

Security manager Mark Foulds says some staff have had death threats

Mr Foulds said abuse was often triggered when underage customers were challenged when trying to buy alcohol, cigarettes and energy drinks.

"Staff have been threatened with someone waiting for them when the store closes, or they've had death threats or vile and hateful comments, to the point where we've had to get security officers to escort them back home after work," he added.

A national survey by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) reported that violence against shop workers doubled in 2023, when compared with 2022.

Seven out of 10 respondents had reported verbal abuse by customers, 46% had received threats of violence and 8% had been physically assaulted, the report stated.

Julie Haycraft, of the USDAW union, says "something has changed in society"

Julie Haycraft, a union spokesperson and Lincolnshire Co-op employee, said: "The long-term impact on mental health is not good.

"I don't know what has changed in society, but people seem to want to have everything now, they don't want to wait in queues or produce identification if they're buying alcohol or cigarettes."

Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, has promised to introduce a specific law to punish abuse against shop staff.

"We want to say how seriously we take this and that there are consequences," she said.

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