New law aims to keep retail workers safe from serial abuse.

New rules brought into place will see significantly stricter repercussions levied against repeat abusive customers and shop lifters. With the threat of tracking and prison time now being on the cards. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that “shops must be free from the threat of crime or abuse.” 

Those that choose to physically or verbally assault retail workers could face up to 6 months in prison with the potential for an unlimited fine.  

The new law is intended to send a clear message to the public that abusive behaviour will not be accepted and that there will be definite consequences to those actions.  

In response to a petition on the matter, the government has previously stated that it did not think a separate law for this issue would be necessary. However, these crimes have become such a big problem that further action became unavoidable. 

The Prime minister has stated that extensive use of facial recognition software will be used to identify serial offenders along with the introduction of tracking tags that must be worn by those identified. 

Speaking with Jordan Nightingale a retail manager that has spent the last 10 years working in various retail stores, (most recently as a manager at B & M) Jordan stated that “I am truly disgusted by the state of certain peoples’ behaviour towards my staff and other retail workers” when asked what he thought of the new law he said “it should never really have been allowed to get this far, the threat of legal action as a response to abusive behaviour should have been a given from day one. I do however appreciate that money and effort is being put into making my staff feel safer in the workplace, knowing that if someone were to act out then there would be repercussions.” 

Clearly the new rules will not put a stop to all abusive behaviour of shop workers, but as Jordan mentions, the hope is that “people will now think twice before they act on impulse.” 

Working in tandem with the preexisting Retail Crime Action Plan, the new law is backed by an investment of £55.5m over the next four years, £4m of which will be dedicated to new mobile units specifically designed with prevention of retail abuse in mind. These mobile units directly address one of Jordan's main concerns, which is that of Police presence, or the lack thereof.

The Prime Minister’s final statement on the matter, 

“I am sending a message to those criminals – enough is enough!” 

Peter Whittington

WLV News