A supermarket boss has told how staff are dealing with more aggressive customers as they struggle to make ends meet. Iceland Managing Director Richard Walker has told the store is seeing more crime as a result of the soaring cost of living.
He told Good Morning Britain stores had experienced a rise in both shoplifting and aggressive incidents. Speaking to Ed Balls and Susanna Reid on Tuesday he said stores would take action if staff were met with aggression.
He said employees were facing serious incidents every week. And he said this was increasing "because people are struggling", reports the Birmingham Mail.
He told the programme: "We're not the police and we do have security guards in some stores, but they will give a written warning or ban the customer from the story if they get aggressive. I get the serious incident reports every week of aggressive behaviour that goes on in our stores and unfortunately it is going up because people are struggling."
The problem has emerged as traders are seeing sales fall at a rate "not seen since the depth of the pandemic". Managing tight budgets means customers are tightening their belts spending as inflation soars, according to a report.
The latest monthly BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor showed total retail sales dropped by 1% in June. That is the third fall in a row as the cost of living takes its toll on consumers.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: "Sales volumes are falling to a rate not seen since the depths of the pandemic, as inflation continues to bite, and households cut back spending.
"Discretionary purchases were hit hard, especially white goods and homeware, while consumers also traded down to cheaper brands in food and non-food alike.
"While the jubilee weekend gave food sales a temporary boost, and fashion sales benefitted from the summer holiday and wedding season, this was not enough to counter the substantial slowdown in consumer spending."
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