Physical violence against retail staff has risen 50% in a year, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual retail crime survey.
The survey also revealed the number of threats of violence has increased by one-third in the past year, and the number of incidents per 100 stores has shot up by 18%.
The annual survey is thought to be the most authoritative measure of retail crime. It drew responses from retail companies trading in a full range of sectors through 10,054 outlets in the UK.
For UK retailing as whole, losses from detected customer theft rose 8.5% from £189m to £205m in a year.
The BRC said many retailers were angry that retail crime was treated so lightly. This had led to under-reporting of incidents, especially among smaller retailers who believe retail crime is not taken seriously by police or the judiciary, the consortium said.
BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: “Last year shop staff were subjected to around half a million incidents of abuse or violence in their workplaces and retailers clocked up even greater losses to theft. It’s clear the current approach is not working.
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“The government and law enforcers must stop believing retail crime as victimless and committed by harmless petty criminals.”
Retail union Usdaw called the figures “unacceptable”. General secretary John Hannett said: “We are pleased the BRC agrees with us that behind these alarming figures there is individual human pain and distress.”
