Retail crime soars at Northamptonshire Central Co-ops with threats, intimidation and verbal abuse on increase

Threats, intimidation and verbal abuse experienced by staff at a popular chain chain of Northamptonshire food store have all seen a massive increase in the past year.

According to data disclosed by the Central Co-op, crimes at their stores in the county have ‘skyrocketed’ with their 14 food stores seeing a 30 per cent increase.

The group is encouraging its members, customers and colleagues to write to their local MPs to campaign for legislative reform, seeking to criminalise assaults on shopworkers.

Sarah Dickins, chief people officer at Central Co-op, said: “The safety and well-being of our colleagues will always be paramount to us. No-one should have to fear threats, violence or abuse, and the fact this is increasing across the retail industry in our society is unacceptable. We continue to invest in measures to keep our colleagues safe, whilst offering the best in-store experience we can for our members and customers.

"We’re working with law enforcement as well as local MPs to campaign for change together by amending the Criminal Justice Bill and hope that together, as an industry, we can make this meaningful difference to all retail workers.”

There are Central Co-op stores in Corby, Oundle, Kettering, Raunds, Irthlingborough, Thrapston, Desborough, Broughton, Brigstock, Rothwell and Northampton.

Total reported crime across Central Co-op Northamptonshire stores increased by 587 incidents when compared to last year – an increase of a third.

Threats and intimidation across the stores increased by 25 per cent over the same period. Total incidents of verbal abuse across increased by a massive 43 per cent.

In Easter 2023, four Corby Co-op workers were taken to hospital after a liquid was thrown at them by a shopper.

Central Co-op released a report addressing the alarming rise of retail crime across its shops, outlining the ‘stark realities’ faced by shopworkers, and they are calling for urgent legislative reform to protect frontline workers.

The paper comes after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) released its 2024 report, which highlight that incidents of violence and abuse in retail environments had increased to more than 1,300 per day, and theft more than doubled to 16.7 million.

One of the central proposals outlined in the white paper is an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, which seeks to criminalise assaults on shopworkers.

The Central Co-op retail crime report is available to download at https://bit.ly/centralcoopretailcrimereport.