The Mirror has launched a campaign to honour Britain's retail heroes, asking the public to nominate shop workers who go above and beyond, amid new figures showing more than half of retail staff face abuse weekly.
Rising Abuse Against Shop Workers
New figures reveal that 54% of shop workers are subjected to abuse or attacked by customers every week, up from 33% two years ago. With around three million retail workers in the UK, an estimated one million frontline staff endure regular verbal abuse, threats or violence.
Overall, nearly eight in ten (79%) suffered abuse in the past year, while more than a third say they feel unsafe on shift.
Let's Respect Retail Campaign
As part of the Let's Respect Retail campaign, the Mirror is asking readers to nominate a retail hero who represents the very best of their community. Nominations should describe someone who has gone above and beyond, made a difference to customers or colleagues, stayed calm under pressure, and shown day-in, day-out dedication.
High street bosses and the union Usdaw are demanding zero tolerance as 54% of retail staff are now targeted weekly.
Charity's Response
Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, a charity that supports shopworkers, said: "People go into retail because they love serving customers, and we hear stories every day of store staff going above and beyond.
"So it's doubly sad to see the figures that have come out this month showing how often they're having to deal with abuse and aggression.
"But we do know that small acts of kindness, when customers recognise the great job that their store staff are doing, goes so far in helping mitigate those incidents of poor behaviour.
"We are really delighted that the Mirror is running this competition, because I think it will shine a spotlight on some fabulous members of the retail community and bring the stories of how they're serving their communities to life."
