Central England Co-op is today (Fri) calling on the Government to introduce new legislation to better protect key workers in its stores following a spike in threats and abuse - including incidents in Rutland.

The retailer, which has over 260 stores across 16 counties, is joining forces with co-operatives up and down the country following a continued spike in colleagues working to provide their communities with vital food and essentials during these uncertain times being faced with unacceptable threats of verbal and physical abuse.

In Rutland, a Central England Co-op spokesman told Oakham Nub News: "A customer coughed in the face of a store manager and claimed they had Covid-19.

"Multiple colleagues have also been verbally abused and some even threatened with physical abuse because they had run out of products."

New figures store-wide have seen assaults jump by 100 percent, threats and intimidation by 25 percent and verbal abuse by 175 percent since the start of the year, and since the lockdown was introduced, there have been over 100 incidents related directly to people using coronavirus as a threat.

The Society has long campaigned for the Government to change legislation so shop workers are afforded greater protection in carrying out those public duties and today are saying more needs to be done now to protect these critical workers and to curb a potential crime epidemic.

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op Chief Executive, said: "These uncertain times have brought to the fore how our colleagues in stores are key workers and critical to all of our everyday lives.

"However, despite this, we continue to see rise upon rise of incidents where our colleagues are verbally threatened or even worse physically abused just for doing the job - something that has only risen during the coronavirus outbreak.

"Today we tell people this is not acceptable and we will not tolerate any kind of abuse to our colleagues and we also urge the Government to work harder to recognise the people itself has recognised as being of vital importance to our daily lives.

"Their amazing contribution now needs to be recognised by a change in law so anyone who takes the decision to cross the line with our colleagues knows that retail crime is taken seriously.

"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.

"This is not just a Central England Co-op problem, it is an industry-wide problem, and this is why we come together today to say we need change and we need it now."

As part of the plea, the retailer is building awareness and support for MP Alex Norris' Assault on Shop Workers Bill which has seen its second reading in Parliament postponed.

It states that because shop workers have responsibilities to uphold the law on age restricted products, they should be afforded greater protection in carrying out those public duties.

Over the past three years, Central England Co-op has invested heavily in measures to protect colleagues including fitting stores with external motion detectors and a centrally monitored CCTV system fitted which allows colleagues to call for assistance at the touch of a button.

These measures sit alongside a range of others such as product GPS trackers, additional ATM anchors, gas suppression systems and stringent cash controls, all of which are designed to keep customers and colleagues safe as well as actively promoting the fact that targeting convenience supermarkets is not 'worth the risk'.