Attacks on shop workers 'more than doubled in past year'

Danny Hook has been a retail worker for nearly 22 years

A survey from the retail trade union Usdaw has uncovered that 18% of shop workers have suffered violent attacks in the past year.

That figure stood at just 8% in 2022.

Danny Hook, a north east Usdaw representative, has worked in retail for 22 years and said he had never before seen threats of violence and abuse "on this scale".

The Home Office has said violence against retail workers is unacceptable and that "the police have committed to patrol more areas and attend more shoplifting incidents, especially where violence has occurred".

'Members kicked and punched'

Usdaw said the increase in assaults came during an “epidemic” of retail crime, with official statistics showing significant increases in theft from shops.

Danny said he had seen "shoplifters spitting at staff" and colleagues having stolen items like glass bottles "being thrown back at them".

He added: "At one local store we had five staff members hurt, with members being kicked and punched."

Danny said he believed that shoplifters chose certain times to go into shops.

“They’ll learn the shift patterns of guards," he said.

"They’re not going to go in when there’s someone there to challenge them and they’ll face reprisal.

"They’ll go at those key times when they know those shops aren’t being protected."

On top of physical attacks, the survey found 70% of retail workers had experienced verbal abuse and 46% had been threatened by a customer in the past year.

Experiences gathered by the union’s survey included a shop worker in County Durham being “sworn at for refusing an energy drink sale due to the customer looking under 25 and having no ID” and another in Northumberland who said “customers push you out of the way, shout and swear”.

Shop workers in the Tees Valley said they had been threatened by shoplifters, had customers spit in their face and had been warned they would be “jumped”.