THE government must take urgent measures to protect shopworkers in the face of rising violent attacks, the Co-op retailer urged today.

The company reveals that there were 2,500 incidents of verbal abuse and anti-social behaviour against its employees in recent months.

Six hundred of the incidents involved violence and one in four of the violent incidents involved a knife, gun or other weapon.

Figures by the British Retail Consortium show that around 115 shopworkers are attacked every day and many more are threatened.

Co-op Food’s chief executive Jo Whitfield called on the government to create a new offence that would carry higher penalties for attacks where a shopworker is enforcing age restriction laws on products like cigarettes or alcohol.

The company added that there should be a review of existing sentences handed down to attackers, new guidelines on sentencing, and a major boost to police resources to help protect communities and shopworkers.

Ms Whitfield said: “More needs to be done and the issue needs to be about the human cost — the physical and emotional impact to shopworkers and their families — not the cost to business.

“What frustrates me most is that this is talked about as a crime against a business, but it’s not.

“We can replace stock but it is not as easy to repair the physical and emotional well-being of a colleague whose confidence is shaken and who feels afraid to come into work because of rising levels of violence and abuse in our communities.”

Shopworkers union Usdaw’s general secretary Paddy Lillis said the “shocking” statistics show that urgent action is needed.

“Violence, threats and abuse against workers are amongst the great scourges of our society,” he added.