Customer abuse forces shop worker to dread going to work

A shop assistant has spoken out about being spat at, threatened and verbally abused by customers, saying she is sometimes too scared to turn up for her shift. Finnola Tzagorakis shared her story as MPs gathered in Westminster this week to debate new measures tackling the growing crisis of abuse against retail and other customer-facing workers.

Daily fear behind the till

Tzagorakis, who works at a convenience store in the north of England, described incidents that have left her shaking. A customer threw a bottle at her head last year. Another followed her to her car after her shift. She’s been called names she won’t repeat in public. “I’ve cried in the back room more times than I can count,” she said. “Some mornings I sit in my car for twenty minutes before I can make myself go in.”

She’s not alone. According to the British Retail Consortium, retail workers experienced around 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse every single day in 2023. That’s nearly half a million incidents across the year. And the figures have been climbing steadily since 2020.

MPs debate action as cases rise

The parliamentary debate, secured by backbench MPs who have been pushing the government on the issue for months, heard testimony from workers across the hospitality, transport and retail sectors. Several MPs called for a specific standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail worker, similar to legislation already passed in Scotland in 2021.

But critics of that approach argue existing laws are sufficient if properly enforced. The debate exposed real divisions over whether tougher sentencing or better resourcing of police and prosecutors is the right answer.

Still, there was broad agreement on one thing: the status quo isn’t working.

Industry and unions demand change

The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, known as Usdaw, has been campaigning on this issue for over a decade. The union says its own surveys consistently show more than 70 percent of retail workers have experienced some form of abuse in the past year. Verbal abuse is the most common, but physical incidents are rising.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said the government takes the abuse of retail workers “extremely seriously” and is considering its options ahead of a formal response to the debate.

Retailers themselves have invested heavily in protective measures. CCTV upgrades, body-worn cameras for staff and challenge-25 signage have all been rolled out more widely. Yet technology hasn’t stopped the incidents. Workers like Tzagorakis say what they really need is to know the law is firmly on their side.

What comes next

Campaigners are pushing for a government bill before the end of this parliamentary session. Usdaw wants mandatory reporting requirements placed on large retailers and a dedicated national register of offenders who repeatedly target shop workers.

For Tzagorakis, the politics feels distant from her day-to-day reality. She just wants to do her job without being afraid. “Nobody should have to feel like this going to work,” she said. “It’s not right.”