Devon supermarket worker left with flashbacks after abuse from customer

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A supermarket worker from Devon has spoken about how being threatened by a customer left her feeling scared and anxious.

Campaigners are calling for the House of Lords to support a change in the law giving more protection to shop staff faced with abuse.

It comes as new figures reveal almost 90 per cent have experienced threatening behaviour according to union Usdaw.

Janette Parker, from Chudleigh Knighton, told ITV News it is "not unusual" for people to take their frustrations out on retail workers.

But in one particularly scary incident, she said a customer got angry when her till was not working quickly enough.

89 per cent of shop workers have been verbally abused, according to figures from Usdaw. Credit: ITV News

"He just reached in behind the screen and snatched the product out of my hands," she said.

"It was really disconcerting, it's not the sort of behaviour we expect of customers."

Janette was not hurt in the incident, but the customer walked away unchallenged and for a long time afterwards she experienced flashbacks every time she went to work.

"I was shaken up, and I wouldn't like to diminish that because it's always in your mind," she said.

"It becomes a little anxiety in the back of your mind every time you're serving customers."

New figures suggest 89 per cent of shop workers have experienced verbal abuse, 64 per cent have been threatened and 11 per cent physically assaulted.

Union Usdaw is campaigning to change the law to give workers more protection.

An amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill suggests making it a specific offence to assault, threaten or abuse a retail worker.

Dave Clift, Usdaw area manager for Cornwall, said: "We've seen all different types of trigger points throughout the past two years - it can be anything from asking people to socially distance, asking people not to bulk buy and only purchase products they need, or recently the fuel crisis.

"These guys get up, put the uniform on and come to work to provide a service to the public, not to be on the receiving end of some of this unnecessary behaviour."