Shop staff face record levels of violent abuse

'THEFTS COST US TENS OF THOUSANDS AS WELL AS TIME'

- By Paul Jeeves Crime Editor

MORE than one in 10 retail staff have been threatened with weapons in the past year as Britain's shoplifting epidemic turns increasingly violent.

With high street crime reaching record-breaking levels in England and Wales, the fear of being assaulted by a weapon-wielding thief is becoming an ever-increasing worry for workers.

Research from commercial insurer NFU Mutual exposed the ongoing issues retailers deal with on a daily basis, with verbal and physical assaults becoming commonplace.

Some 79% of shops surveyed said they had been a victim of crime in the past 12 months and, of those, nearly half had suffered more than three times at the hands of criminals.

Over two-fifths faced verbal assault - the third most common crime - and almost 20% had experienced physical assaults against staff or customers.

Protect

And a shocking 13% of retail chiefs said they or their employees had been threatened with weapons.