Covid: Shop worker's worry after being spat at

Shop worker Tracey Davies had said dealing with abuse every day was exhausting

"I've been spat at and was worried I might die of Covid."

Shop worker Tracey Davies said her depression flared back up after abuse from customers during the pandemic.

Now the Welsh government and the shop worker's union is calling for greater protection for UK retail staff as new laws come into force in Scotland.

The Home Office said new guidelines meant courts should increase sentences for assaults against people providing a service to the public, like shop staff.

Research from Usdaw, which represents 380,000 shop workers in the UK, suggests more than than 90% of their members had suffered abuse, more than two-thirds threatened, and one in seven assaulted.

• Shop worker abused 'every day for a year'

• Supermarkets shut off non-essential items in Wales

'Please be kind'

Ms Davies, 51, from Neath, said while customers in her store had "got a lot better", abuse she received throughout the pandemic had triggered relapses in her depression.

A union says its research suggested one in seven shop workers had been assaulted

She said she received abuse from about five people every day.

"I was doing my regular job, a gentleman came in, I asked him for ID, he didn't have it so he proceeded to spit in my face in the middle of a pandemic."

She said she washed repeatedly as the incident made her feel "violently ill".

The shop worker is calling on people to "simply be kind".

"That's all I'm asking. If everyone was kind, I wouldn't be in this mess."

Some shop staff have said they have been abused by customers while trying to enforce government face mask rules.

Supermarket workers have also spoken out about having to "referee" what could and could not be bought in shops after the Welsh government banned the sale of non-essential items like clothes, toys and electrical goods last year.

One worker from mid Wales told an Usdaw survey they had been "rammed with trolleys on purpose" while one deaf worker in west Wales said customers had told them they should not be working.

Some supermarket aisles were closed off during Wales' firebreak lockdown last year

One supermarket giant revealed a 76% rise in reports of antisocial behaviour and verbal abuse towards its staff in 2020, with more than 100 incidents at Co-op stores every day.

The Welsh government wants to follow the Scottish government's route and introduce tougher laws for perpetrators of abuse and violence towards shop staff but it is not a devolved power in Wales so is under the jurisdiction of Westminster.

"Any abuse directed at staff who are doing their job and helping to keep customers safe is completely unacceptable," said a Welsh government spokesperson.

"We support Usdaw's call for greater protections for shop workers, and with criminal justice currently reserved to the UK government, we urge them to bring forward the necessary legislation."

A law protecting shop workers would "be amazing because we do mean something and we are important", Jane Jones says

'You don't want to go to work. You know what's coming'

Jane Jones, a checkout supervisor from Mold, said workers had "always been abused" but it had escalated since the pandemic began.

The mother-of-two who has worked in retail for about 20 years said: "You can be really anxious going to work.

"You're building yourself up to it before you go because you know what's coming."

Mrs Jones said that meant being sworn at, having items thrown at staff, and people moving closer to them when being asked to keep their distance.

She said this had left colleagues reduced to tears and needing to take time off work due to stress and anxiety.

Usdaw's general secretary called abuse against shop workers a "disgrace"

• Supermarket workers facing coronavirus 'abuse'

• Don't allow shop abuse to worsen, bosses tell PM

"It is heartbreaking to hear these testimonies from Welsh shop workers who deserve far more respect than they receive," said Paddy Lillis, Usdaw's general secretary.

"Our latest survey results clearly show the scale of the appalling violence, threats and abuse faced by shop workers and demonstrate the need for a 'protection of shop workers' law."

Linda Richards says the whole of the UK should have the same laws to protect shop workers

As a union representative, Linda Richards said "more and more people" had come to her after suffering abusive treatment from some customers.

She said the law introduced in Scotland should be the same "across the board".

"If you can't respect people, you should be held accountable for that."

The UK government said the Sentencing Council's revised assault guidelines were published in May and required courts to treat an offence committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public as an aggravating factor, making the offence more serious.

"It is completely unacceptable to threaten or assault shop workers, not least when they are working so hard to keep vital services running," said a Home Office spokesperson.

"We are putting 20,000 extra police officers into our communities to cut crime - including retail crime - and we launched the Shop Kind campaign in April to provide better support to victims and encourage customers to treat shop workers with dignity and respect.

"The Sentencing Council has set out guidelines which means courts should increase sentences for assaults committed against all those providing a service to the public, which includes shop workers."

• TIME TRAVEL WITH TUDUR: The funniest of moments from the last half century of Welsh telly

• THE CASABLANCA: How a Cardiff nightclub changed our lives