'I fear for my life at work'

Shop safety should be improved, say Usdaw

Thugs brandishing baseball bats, saws and syringes and gangs of up to 40 people are not the usual customers expected through the doors of the suburban convenience store.

But it is all in a day's work for one shopkeeper, who says he has been attacked numerous times in his store in south west London.

David Valentine runs the Co-op Welcome store in Roehampton. He is one of thousands of shop workers assaulted each year whom Home Secretary David Blunkett wants to keep safe.

Mr Blunkett helped launch the first National Respect for Shopworkers Day, organised by retail union Usdaw, to urge support for staff across the country.

Backing the awareness drive, Mr Valentine, 30, described an incident last summer when a man, armed with a crow bar and wood saw, came into his store and started to verbally abuse the security guard.

"I heard the commotion and went to diffuse the incident, but he started on me, giving me verbal abuse," he said.

He went into his bag and pulled out a crow bar and went to hit my head Mr Valentine

"I told him to buy his products and leave the shop, I went to the counter to serve him but he started on me again. He went into his bag and pulled out a crow bar and went to hit my head."

He said the security guard grabbed the crow bar but the man then reached for a wood handsaw.

"He was threatening me and the security guard and chasing us around the shop trying to get us, there were customers around as well."

Mr Valentine said he alerted the police using a panic button and called 999. However the man ran away when he heard the sirens and was never caught.

"I wasn't frightened at first but when he pulled out the weapon the fear factor started to kick in and I thought 'this thing is going to hit me'."

He explained that his store was classified as a "red" incident store, a hot spot for attacks with all nine of his staff experiencing abuse.

"We used to get 30 to 40 people at a time rushing the store to steal things, I've been hit a few times and had syringes and baseball bats pulled out on me," he said.

He admitted the thought of changing career had "crossed his mind" and he had been urged to do so by his family.

"It's a way of life," he said. "I shouldn't have to go to work fearing for my life, I just want to do my job and earn money."

He said convenience stores were "easy targets" and feared that crime was escalating from inner cities into the suburbs.

'Success with safety'

"Something needs to be done to try and gain the respect of the outside community," he said.

"Everyone in retail has a profession, it is not a stop-gap career but people's livelihoods."

Launching the respect day on Wednesday Mr Blunkett said: "The retail sector has a critical role in the UK's economy, employing around 2.7 million people and generating billions of pounds worth of business.

"Its success and the safety of its workforce go hand in hand."