Scottish shopworkers are facing a daily barrage of abuse and violence as they go about their jobs, according to new figures. A survey by retail trade union Usdaw of over 5,500 workers shows a whopping 70% experienced verbal abuse in 2023.

Almost half (46%) were threatened by a customer while almost a fifth (18%) were physically assaulted at work. This represents a rise from 5% in 2019 with the number of attacks skyrocketing since Covid.

It is also a big increase on 2022 when the figure was 8%. Usdaw has compiled testimony from shopworkers who described what they had been going through.

One person reported a pregnant member of staff getting “assaulted with a solar light,” in Glasgow, with another attacked in the car park after finishing their shift in the city. One worker in Lothian was “touched by a male customer,” who “got angry, called me a rat and a lesbian because I didn’t want to be touched”.

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