Shop workers in Gloucestershire have spoken out about the growing problem of receiving violence, threats and abuse.

This week is Respect for Shop Workers Week and members of the retail trade union Usdaw are raising awareness of the union’s year-round End Fear campaign and speaking to the public to promote a message of respect for shop workers.

Responses from over 4,000 retail workers in the South West show that in the last 12 months: 69% experienced verbal abuse 45% were threatened by a customer 17% were assaulted 70% of these incidents were triggered by theft and two thirds of these were related to addiction

Shop workers in Gloucestershire reported: “I’ve had bins thrown at me because of queues”; “The customer abused me because I didn’t get a refund”; “I was called abuse because of my personal appearance” and “Threats and throwing objects”.

Retail Store Manager Graham Bocking said: “It’s a massive problem and it’s one that’s growing. Colleagues are regularly abused. It ranges from rude comments to shouting at people to threats of violence and is on the rise in retail.

“Only a small number are actually being reported, so we don’t know the full scale, but it’s increasing and it’s been since Covid. The mental impact of being threatened is phenomenal. I was a store manager of a convenience store and I was threatened. Every week, every day is just not acceptable.

He added: “Shoplifting is also a massive problem. It is seen by many people as a victimless crime, but it is not a victimless crime because people have to pay more for their goods. On a national scale, you’d think it costs. billions of pounds, all of which will drive prices up’.

Wendy Hawker, Usdaw store manager at Tesco in Brockworthsaid staff abuse is a big problem, especially this time of year.

She said: “Employees are abused and there is violence. We make people aware that it is not acceptable and support the Freedom of Fear campaign.

“It gets a bit worse around Christmas as people get stressed and agitated. This time of year, it’s a campaign we run. It makes customers aware and helps staff know they can get help when needed.

“Over the years, it got worse. People seem to think yes it’s ok to come in and abuse staff and no it’s not ok. violence.

“It should be a safe place to work. It can affect their health and they might not want to come to work because they don’t want another episode of what happened the day before and it’s upsetting for them and their families.”

Visiting the store was Chris Nelson, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershirewho said: “I was invited to come down because the unions are doing an office to explain to customers the importance of being nice to staff because of abuse issues.

“This store’s approach to shoplifting is design and crime prevention and what the store itself can do to prevent shoplifting. Obviously, we will support them. Over the last year we have had extra patrols to deal with this really serious problem.

“There are three basic types of thieves: the thief with the cost of living without food; the addict who feeds his habit; and the organized crime group. Organized criminal groups are a particular problem. We’ve seen a lot of growth lately. We have various teams that are deployed in response when a manager calls us.

“Across the county we have around 300 officers involved in all sorts of things and theft and protecting staff is part of their job. Lack of resources is always a problem. I’m hoping to get a government grant in December so we can expand our resources and deal with these issues better.”