Stabbed by syringes: retail workers call for tougher sentences for assault
Ministers have been urged to introduce tougher sentences for people who assault supermarket workers in England and Wales.
Calls from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) come as new legislation comes into force in Scotland that makes assaulting or abusing retail staff a standalone offence.
The BRC has called on peers in the House of Lords to introduce further protections for retail workers during the second reading of the the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill on September 14.
Violence against shop workers is on the up despite increased measures like body-cameras and panic alarms, according to the BRC.
Violence on the up
The trade body’s annual crime survey found at the start of 2020, there were over 450 incidents of violence and abuse every day, a seven per cent rise on the previous year
As staff often encounter violence when asking customers for age verification ID, the BRC wants to see specific protections for workers when these conversations lead to violence and abuse.
Spat or coughed on
“Retail workers in Dundee are now better protected than those in Doncaster. It is incomprehensible that despite Holyrood’s decisive action, the UK Government has so far failed to provide the same protections to shop workers in the rest of the UK,” Helen Dickinson OBE, BRC chief executive, said.
“Too often I hear stories of people working in retail being stabbed by syringes, threatened with weapons, spat or coughed on –Government must take this issue seriously. While victims are left traumatised, perpetrators roam free, with most crimes going unprosecuted.”