Central England Co-op reports rise in shoppers threatening to spit and cough at staff

• Incidents of verbal abuse jumped from 11 per week to 24 in the past four weeks

• CEO Debbie Robinson reiterated a plea for its teams to be treated with “care, compassion and respect”

Central England Co-op has reported a significant rise in customers threatening to cough and spit at staff in its shops during the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.

Figures for the past four weeks showed incidents of verbal abuse jumped from 11 per week to 24, which, in some cases, is more than four times higher than the same period during 2019, the mutual said.

Incidents have taken place across the retailer’s estate in West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Central England Co-op, which has more than 260 food stores and petrol stations across 16 counties, called the rise in violent offences “totally unacceptable”.

CEO Debbie Robinson reiterated a plea for its teams to be treated with “care, compassion and respect”.

“Throughout these uncertain times our colleagues have been and continue to do everything they can to ensure our community stores have enough food and essential items for everyone,” she said.

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“On the whole, our members and customers have been supportive and showed our frontline heroes care, compassion and respect.

“However, as the figures released today show, we have a minority who ignore these pleas and treat our hardworking teams in a totally unacceptable manner.

“Today, we again ask for people to be kind and respectful to those working in our stores and to understand the changes we have had to put in place are to keep our colleagues and our communities safe and healthy.

“For anyone who does not support us, we will continue to work closely with local police forces to showcase that we have a zero-tolerance approach to any violent or threatening behaviour towards our colleagues.

“I am a strong campaigner for shop workers to be treated as public servants in the eyes of the law, in cases where they suffer violence or risk from the public. I would hope their status in society will now be permanently elevated and I am redoubling my efforts in lobbying for a change in sentencing law to ensure those who choose to attack our colleagues are held accountable for their actions on the same level as other frontline workers.”