Stores

Incidents of violent crime and abuse of retail staff trebled during pandemic

By 31 May 2022

Queue of people outside shop, socially distanced and wearing face masks

Incidents of abuse and violent crime towards frontline retail workers trebled during the first year of the pandemic, despite vast swathes of bricks-and-mortar stores being closed.

Retail shop workers reported 1,301 incidents of abuse and violent crime a day between March 2020 and March 2021, up from 455 incidents a day pre-pandemic, according to the latest Crime Survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). 

Broken down, there were 21 incidents a day of violence towards retail staff leading to an injury, 104 incidents of violence a day without injury and 1,176 abusive incidents a day.

 

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