[Politics] 'Police did nothing when there was a fight in my shop'

[Mr.Talha]

 

The row had started outside his village store but carried on inside, ending in the older, taller, customer punching the teenage target of his anger.

Mr Puntambekar managed to evict the aggressor and help the younger man, promising to report it to the police.

He did so - but nearly 12 months later, nothing has happened.

Mr Puntambekar is one of thousands of shop owners and workers who feel they are being let down by the police, according to a new report on violence against retailers by the Home Affairs Committee.

The report has found that violence against retail employees has escalated over the past five years, increasing further through the pandemic.

Violence against shop staff increasing, survey says
Shop worker abused 'every day for a year'
Only essential retailers have been allowed to stay open during periods of lockdown, but both small and larger firms gave evidence to the committee, detailing extensive verbal and physical abuse.

Supermarkets Morrisons and Sainsbury's told MPs their staff had been threatened with knives, firearms and even syringes.

The Home Affairs Committee is now asking the government to consult on a standalone law that would make it a criminal offence to assault retail workers in England and Wales.

 

 

It said that the problem is "becoming endemic in British society and the policing response is failing to match the scale of the problem".

It cites a survey of shop workers conducted by the Association of Convenience Stores, which found that only one in five who reported incidents "were satisfied with the response from the police".

"When the police fail to attend or follow-up serious incidents, it undermines trust and confidence in them, discourages reporting, and weakens the deterrent for repeat offenders," the report said.

Assistant commissioner Alistair Sutherland, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for business crime, said: "Individual forces will have different tactics available to them and will use crime prevention initiatives most suited to the issues they are facing.

"We take reports of all types of retail crime very seriously, particularly those involving violence, and will seek to prosecute anyone who breaks the law in this regard."

He added: "We recognise however, that there is more that we must do to encourage reporting and provide a better service and assurance to victims."