Shocking CCTV shows customers punching, kicking and abusing retail staff

Horrifying CCTV footage showing retail staff being physically and verbally attacked by customers has highlighted the escalating problem of violent customers. WATCH the video here.

A young Woolworths worker bent over in shock and pain after being struck in the head with a metal scooter, another supermarket staffer cowering on the floor as he is bashed and beaten by a customer.

They are just two confronting incidents amid a rise in abuse of retail staff across ­Australia.

More than 2000 incidents of violence and abuse have been reported across Australian Big W, Woolworths and Metro stores since July 1, an average of 420 incidents a month, and a rise of 50 per cent compared to the same time last year.

CCTV footage and incident logs paint a picture of the rise in violence.

In one clip, a customer jumps onto a service desk before kicking a team member. In other incidents a Woolworths worker had a car door slammed on his head after he was assaulted in a carpark, and a customer abused a worker and threw a coke can at his head because he couldn’t withdraw more than $200 in cash at the register.

This customer jumped a counter to attack a worker.

CCTV captured the entire sickening episode.

Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said the rise in violence directed towards people who were simply trying to do their best to do their job was confronting.

“In the post Covid-era we’ve seen a significant rise in the number of people walking through our doors who act aggressively, and sometimes violently,” Mr Banducci said.

“In the past fortnight, we have had team members punched, spat on, and other recent incidents include threats with a range of weapons from baseball bats, iron bars to knives.

“We are also seeing aggression and violence against our home delivery drivers with one driver recently pulled from his truck at gunpoint.”

It has prompted Woolworths to invest more than $40m across Australia on CCTV upgrades, team safety cameras, headsets and personal duress devices.

In addition, funding has been allocated to face-to-face resilience and de-escalation training for workers, as well as virtual reality training for common aggressive situations.

A Woolworths worker is doubled over in pain after a teenager threw a scooter at their head.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association NSW Secretary Bernie Smith said: “Abuse and violence of retail workers is now an epidemic.

“There have been stabbings, axe attacks and bashings in major retail outlets.”

Eastgardens Big W store manager Rohan Dennis said the aggression was “the worst he had ever seen”.

“While most of our customers and community are friendly and show our team respect, we are seeing an increase in customer aggression, especially in the lead up to Christmas.

“In my 11 years at BIG W and Woolworths, this is the worst I have seen,” he said.

“Our team members are simply doing their job and following their process, but unfortunately some of the time this is met with aggression, abuse with vulgar language, and sometimes threats to be destructive in store.”

Woolworths assistant store manager Uli Tafea said staff were turning to VR training to learn how to de-escalate violence, and use duress alarms

“The VR training helps new team members who may have never been in a situation like that by showing them what a potential aggressive incident could be like and building their skills and knowledge to be able to handle it,” he said.

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