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Iceland Boss Wants Security Guards to Have Truncheons
Lord Walker of Broxton said 43% of UK customer-facing workers faced abuse in six months, as retailers pressed for tougher protections.
- Iceland executive chairman Lord Richard Walker suggested security guards should carry pepper spray and truncheons to combat rising retail crime, citing armed Spanish security guards as an effective model.
- This proposal follows an incident earlier this week in Clapham, south London, where hundreds of youths swarmed shops, prompting M&S retail director Thinus Keeve to criticize the government and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
- A survey of 1,000 customer-facing workers by the Institute of Customer Service found around 43% experienced hostility or abuse in the past six months, while 35% experiencing aggression considered leaving their jobs.
- British Retail Consortium director Jim Bligh urged the mayor and police to "double down on tackling this scourge," emphasizing that violence and theft endanger both retail workers and customers.
- The Crime and Policing Bill will make assault of a retail worker an offence; the bill is undergoing a "tidying up process" between the two Houses of Parliament before final passage.
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Iceland boss demands security staff are given truncheons and pepper spray to combat lawlessness
The head of Iceland has demanded that retail security personnel be equipped with truncheons and pepper sprays to combat what he described as an epidemic of violent theft sweeping British shops
·London, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources15
Leaning Left6Leaning Right1Center6Last UpdatedBias Distribution46% Left, 46% Center
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources lean Left, 46% of the sources are Center
46% Center
L 46%
C 46%
Factuality
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