One in five shop staff is a victim of assault

In 2003, more than one in five shop workers reported being assaulted compared with one in 50 the previous year.

Small shopkeepers bore the brunt of attacks, with one in two reporting incidents of violence

Across the country as a whole, 218 in every 1000 shop staff were attacked compared to 24 the previous year. And an alarming 487 in every 1000 shop employees were threatened with violence.

The shock findings - published by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) - revealed even more cases of violence against owners of small shops.

In 2003, staff working in small shops reported being verbally abused an average of two and a half times each, while three-quarters said they were threatened with violence.

The consortium described the increases as "significant" and is calling for further support in its fight against retail crime which it says cost retailers more than 220 million during the year.

The research has been published just months after lone shopkeeper Mohammed Mirza, 64, was attacked by two teenagers.

Mr Mirza, who runs the Today’s News shop in the city’s Lochrin Buildings, was left covered in blood after two teenagers battered him around the head with a baton when they tried to rob his shop in July.

The two youngsters, who Mr Mirza said looked "just like children", were trying to get money from the till but, despite their vicious assault, the shopkeeper managed to fight them off and chase them from the store.

More than six months later the culprits have still not been traced, despite being captured on CCTV cameras in the store, and Mr Mirza said it was hardly surprising shopkeepers were seen as an easy target.

"This can happen to anyone in this business, although I had never experienced any trouble until last year," he said.

"That same day I heard about a store around the corner being robbed for 700 and I have also heard about another newsagent getting attacked and robbed, and always by youngsters.

"The police can’t do anything about it because it takes them half an hour to get here and by then the culprits have gone. If they were walking the beat this wouldn’t happen, because the kids would know that there would be an officer nearby who might catch them. These youngsters didn’t care, they weren’t worried about that."

Meanwhile, small retail business leaders in Edinburgh said such levels of crime were "unacceptable".

Tim Steward, chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "One of the main concerns retailers have is that the police response times to incidents simply aren’t good enough. Shopkeepers who have suffered attacks are having to wait hours on an officer coming round to investigate.

"Another problem is a perception from shopkeepers that the police are just not interested in incidents like shoplifting.

"They feel they’re hardly bothered about it and feel that there is too much sympathy for these petty criminals. The sad fact is the costs involved with these crimes are being passed on to the customer."

Rob Winter, chair of the Princes Street Traders Association, added: "If these figures are borne out by reality in Edinburgh, then they are clearly very worrying."

SNP justice spokesman and Lothians MSP Kenny MacAskill said the rise in attacks could be a result of shopkeepers fighting back.

He said: "Such crime is simply unacceptable and we need to look at solutions. I think a lot of these attacks happen when drug addicts are shoplifting. Shop owners spot them and try to intercept them and end up being attacked.

"Staff should be able to work without fear of being assaulted. We need to look at the reasons why these attacks happen in order to solve the problem."

The Scottish Retail Consortium said the rise in violent attacks was partly due to more people reporting incidents than in previous years.

An SRC spokeswoman said: "People are encouraged to report incidents more nowadays - even if they are more minor offences. It is important that all cases are recorded. However, the number of attacks on staff has soared and an attack of any kind is unacceptable."

The SRC’s report also revealed that break-ins cost Scottish retailers 12m in 2003, compared to 0.7m the previous year.

The average value of goods stolen per break-in rose from 927 in 2002 to 3589 in 2003. This was only slightly lower than the UK average of 4881. One in ten shops were broken into.

However, staff theft fell in 2003, with retailers suffering losses of 21m compared to 44m in 2002.

Overall, crime cost the Scottish retail industry 228m in 2003 - an increase of 37 per cent on the previous year.

Commenting at the launch of the survey today, director of the SRC Fiona Moriarty said: "It is unacceptable that the cost of crime is rising. The hidden cost of crime, including assaults on staff and other forms of antisocial behaviour, is both substantial and increasing. It is this human element of crime and not merely the bottom line costs that is a concern and growing problem for retailers.

"Although the loss to the retail industry through crime is substantial, the real price is paid by society. This is especially true of small retail businesses, which continue to be a greater target for criminals and more vulnerable to violence against staff.

"However, retailers are taking their responsibility seriously and investment in security, alarm systems and other methods of preventing crime nearly doubled in 2003. Retailers are also working more and more in partnership with the police and local authorities to reduce crime." She added: We are also calling on the Crown Office to carry out a pilot training project for procurator fiscals and sheriffs so that they understand the impacts of retail crime.

"Contrary to some retail criminals’ views, retail crime creates victims.

"We all have a friend or family member who works in the retail sector, and now they have one in a hundred chance of being physically attacked.

"Whilst retailers take every measure possible to crack down on violence and threats of violence, it is up to all members of our communities to recognise that retail crime is wrong."

Scarred by ordeal seven years on

SHOPKEEPER Shaukat Ali remains physically and psychologically scarred by a brutal attack seven years ago which left him in a coma.

Doctors initially feared the father-of-two had suffered severe brain damage after being repeatedly bludgeoned with a heavy potato masher by a drug addict who escaped with just 430.

Mr Ali has no memories of the three weeks following the September 1997 beating at his Meadowbank newsagent and admits the incident left him a changed man.

He said: "He broke quite a bit of my skull and I’ve got a lump on my head that will never go away.

"The doctors initially thought I might end up like a vegetable but I seem to have recovered.

"I used to work on my own a lot but now I always keep another person around because I’m very conscious of what can happen.

"For the first few years, I was very wary and didn’t trust anybody I didn’t know. It’s also left psychological wounds and changed my outlook on life."

Philip Lamb, who was aged 24 at the time, was originally charged with attempted murder in the case.

He was arrested after leaving his wallet at the scene of the crime.

Lamb, who was high on Valium at the time of the attack, later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of serious assault as well as nine house-breaking charges.

He was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Mr Ali spent three weeks in a semi-conscious state and lost his sight for a time.

It took him almost a year to return to work at his Shaukat Newsagent in the city’s Wolseley Terrace - where he continues to work.

Mr Ali, 44, claimed that many robbers continued to consider shopkeepers "easy targets".

He added: "The police say they can’t stop anybody before they commit a crime, but there’s definitely a lack of officers walking the beat."

Shada Akhtar was shot with an airgun during an armed robbery in her newsagents in Leith last year.

Mrs Akhtar, 42, was hit in the leg by a pellet when a masked robber tried to steal cash from S&J Albert and Sons in Albert Street.

She said the attack had left her more aware of the need for security in small businesses.

The mother-of-three was alone in the shop last March when a man with a black bandana over his face came in and held the airgun to her head.

Reliving the terrifying ordeal, Mrs Akhtar said: "He kept telling me: ‘Bang bang open the till. Bang bang I’m going to shoot you’. I was frozen to the spot with fear, I just couldn’t move. He started waving the gun and telling me to go into the back of the shop but I literally couldn’t move.

"I told him we had CCTV and he should get out of here, so he grabbed two packets of cigarettes and ran off. Then on his way out he turned around and fired the gun at me and it hit me in the leg.

"It was a horrible thing to go through and for all I knew it could have been a real gun.

"It was hard but I knew if I went home and worried about it I might never go back to the shop," she said.