Supermarket staff trial body cameras after being abused, threatened and spat at during lockdown in Milton Keynes

The situation is so bad that Central England Co-op is trialling the use of body-worn cameras for its staff. This could soon be rolled out across all stores.

Meanwhile the Co-op has today launched a special 'Be Kind' campaign urging customers to show respect to its workers.

The retailer revealed that 312 crimes related directly to Covid-19 have been recorded in stores across the region since the start of the pandemic.

They say the shocking incidents include knife attacks, verbal abuse, criminal damage, and staff being hospitalised.

“Our teams have gone above and beyond over the last 12 months to ensure our communities have access to vital food and essentials, only to be greeted with shocking incidents like these," said Co-op spokesman Craig Goldie.

New research has shown that, over the last 12 months, incidents of verbal abuse have jumped by 167 per cent, anti-social behaviour by 39 per cent, assaults by 35 per cent and threats by 16 per cent compared to 2019.

Examples of shocking incidents include a customer threatening a Co-op assistant with a wrench after being refused the sale of an energy drink, and another worker being punched in the face after spotting a shoplifter stealing items from a store.

In other cases, shop workers were even slashed at with a knife during attempted incidents of shoplifting

In one of the worst incidents, a Co-op employee was verbally abused, physically attacked and robbed in the car park of a store in an unprovoked attack.

This is on top of "multiple threats" by customers to cough on sales assistants and give them Coronavirus, together with further threats of assault because people have had to queue to enter stores and social distance.

Mr Goldie said: “Seeing these incidents, in black and white, is a sad reminder of the terrible abuse and crimes that our colleagues had to face during 2020.

He added: “We want to send a clear message to anyone who might be thinking of committing a crime at one of our stores - this behaviour will not be tolerated and targeting our stores is not worth the risk.

“We need everyone to be kind and treat our colleagues with care, compassion and respect as they work around the clock for our communities. We want people to think long and hard about the person wearing our uniform – they will be someone’s much loved family member.

“We want people to ask themselves whether they would like their relatives to be confronted by someone in a violent or aggressive way, especially at this uncertain time – the answer is no, and therefore why should anyone who works in retail have to deal with this kind of behaviour.£

“Everyone at Central England Co-op is proud to live and work in our local communities – now we need people to work with us to make sure our stores and the people in them are safe for everyone.”

Recently the Co-op rolled out a range of different measures including security assistance buttons and using tracking devices in more products to deter would-be thieves.

A trial is underway on body cameras for colleagues which, if successful, will be rolled out across all stores.

They have also been working with other major retailers, unions, industry bodies, police and crime commissioners and over 200 MPs to push the Government to crackdown further on those who abuse or attack shopworkers via the introduction of tougher penalties such as an automatic prison term.

This security crackdown will be supported by several measures already in place in stores including: centrally monitored CCTV system and increased use of security officers and store detectives, plus stringent cash controls and colleague training on how to deal with situations involving violence or aggression.

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