Retail bosses are urging police forces across the UK to better protect staff from abuse as the rate of retail crime reaches new heights.
Executives at Sainsbury’s, Boots, M&S and Aldi are among the names signed on a letter calling for assaults on retail staff to be better recorded.
The news comes as research suggests that two in five retail workers are facing abuse from customers on a weekly basis.
According to the BBC, the letter has been signed by more than 50 businesses as well as several MPs and outlines a request for the policing minister to ensure assaults on service workers are recorded separately in police statistics.
Chief executive of The Institute of Customer Service Jo Causon wrote that it is “disheartening” to have to report on the “unacceptable level” of abuse faced by those working on shopfloors.
Research published by the Retail Trust on Monday found that almost half of the store staff surveyed feel unsafe at work.
Around two-thirds of respondents said confronting a shoplifter had resulted in abuse, which might include being shouted at, spat on, threatened or hit.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “It is completely unacceptable to threaten or assault shopworkers. We have recently put aggravated sentences for assaults on shopworkers into law, showing that these crimes will not be tolerated.”
They said that the policing minister is “clear” that police should take a zero-tolerance approach to crime, especially where violence is used.
They added that the recent Retail Crime Action Plan would see police attending more crime scenes and patrolling badly affected areas.
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