Co-op stores and their staff have experienced ‘record levels’ of violence and theft, says the retailer, which has revealed that between three and four colleagues were attacked every day last year. Almost 1,000 incidents took place daily in 2023 with shoplifting, abuse, violence and anti-social behaviour among the problems teams had to deal with. Co-op says it saw more than 1,300 physical assaults against workers in 2023 – up a third on the year before – with more than 40,000 cases of anti-social behaviour and abuse recorded across its 2,400 stores. The rise in incidents, says the company, is d…
