One in three staff at Asda have been attacked on the job including being stabbed and punched, a report has revealed, amid a recent spate of violence towards supermarket workers. 

Some 58 per cent of the 1,000 surveyed by the union GMB said they had suffered illness or injury while at work.

Respondents described shocking incidents of being spat at, being chased by people in cars and having food, including joints of gammon and watermelons, thrown at them.

A whopping 35 per cent told the survey they had experienced physical or verbal violence while at work with some reporting stories of suffering broken bones and receiving death threats against them or their children.

Delivery drivers even talked of occasions when they were confronted by naked customers at the door. 

One in three staff at Asda have been attacked on the job including being stabbed and punched, a report has revealed, amid a recent spate of violence towards supermarket workers (Stock Photo)

The survey comes after a concerning run of incidents at Asda in recent months. Earlier this year a woman appeared before magistrates after a security guard for the supermarket was allegedly mown down in a hit-and-run following a huge brawl in a car park (pictured)

The incident was caught on camera outside a supermarket in Wallsend, Newcastle and Northumbria Police confirmed that a 36-year-old woman was charged following the alleged disturbance 

Nadine Houghton, a GMB national officer, said the findings were ‘horrifying’ and that ‘no one should have to suffer this kind of abuse and violence at work’. 

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Woman, 36, is charged with GBH after Asda security guard was hit by car outside supermarket

She added:  ‘Workers and customers suffer health and safety breaches, fire hazard and hygiene standards plummeting.’

The report is set to be discussed at the union’s annual congress in Bournemouth today, The Guardian reports.

The worrying findings come amid a recent increase in violence towards retail staff with a British Retail Consortium report in April finding that incidents of abuse and violence in shopping centres had soared by 65 per cent from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

It was reported in February that that workers across the country endured 1,300 such instances each day while also trying to fight a spate of shoplifting.

Body armour companies have also reported a rise in demand for stab vests from shop staff in the last two years.

In April the government proposed a new standalone criminal offence of assaulting a retail worker to crack down on abusive or serial shoplifters but the measure was scrapped when Parliament was dissolved last month ahead of the General Election.

An Asda spokesman said: ‘Unfortunately, like all retailers we have seen an increase and violence and aggression towards our colleagues during the last few years. 

‘The safety of our colleagues is a primary concern, which is why we have invested over £30m during the last three years to upgrade the CCTV systems in stores. 

‘We have also provided colleagues with body-worn cameras, hired extra security guards in certain stores and amended store opening times when required.

‘We work with all of our colleague representatives in the important area of colleague security and also back calls for violence or abuse against retail workers to be made a standalone criminal offence in all parts of the UK and hope this is a priority for any incoming Government.’

Josh McDonald pictured kicking Lauren Scott in Asda in Clapham Junction, south-west London. Attention-seeker George O’Boyle led a rabble of delinquents and wannabe ‘influencers’ including McDonald on a fancy-dress invasion of an Asda store

Sophie Roberts (pictured), 20, McDonald’s step-daughter who was dressed as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and an unemployed mother of two from Northampton also hit Ms Scott in the face

The survey comes after a concerning run of incidents at Asda in recent months with cases of shop workers being punched in the face and run over by cars.

Earlier this year a woman appeared before magistrates after a security guard for the supermarket was allegedly mown down in a hit-and-run following a huge brawl in a car park.

The incident was caught on camera outside a supermarket in Wallsend, Newcastle and Northumbria Police confirmed that a 36-year-old woman was charged following the alleged disturbance.

Read More

Who’s laughing now? How TikTok joker jailed for attacking Asda staff in prank gone wrong continued his desperate bid for social media ‘clout’ with MORE hell-raising stunts DAYS after his arrest

Last year the MailOnline revealed a hell-raising ‘joker’ jailed after one of his ‘pranks’ saw a female shopworker being brutally beaten unconscious continued with his campaign of chaos while being investigated by police.

Attention-seeker George O’Boyle, 30, led a rabble of delinquents and wannabe ‘influencers’ on a fancy-dress invasion of an Asda store – which turned into a violent mass brawl on July 22, 2021.

Father-of-two O’Boyle – who calls himself ‘GeeMoney’ on TikTok – was the ringleader behind the mayhem, which saw his gang live-stream their rampage through the Clapham Junction supermarket.

But the carnage turned bloody when O’Boyle’s sidekick, Josh McDonald – a 33-year-old martial arts champion dressed as Spider-Man – kicked and punched defenceless Lauren Scott unconscious, in footage that appalled viewers on social media.

While O’Boyle – dressed as comedy star Ali G in a yellow tracksuit – launched into a violent attack of his own, punching the store’s manager up to 15 times in the face as fighting spilled into the aisles.

Both so-called ‘pranksters’ were jailed last June, after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and violent disorder.

Sophie Roberts, 20, McDonald’s step-daughter who was dressed as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and an unemployed mother of two from Northampton also hit Ms Scott in the face. 

In one video, released on August 8, 2021 – less than three weeks after the notorious Asda video – the foul-mouthed ‘muppet’ was pictured standing on a till, screeching a song as he attempted to play a pink guitar. The video was watched 3,400 times.

Attention-seeker George O’Boyle, 30, was jailed for more than two years after assaulting workers at an Asda store in July 2021. But days after his attack, the father-of-two posted a series of videos on TikTok showing him terrorising other Asda workers

In another video, released on August 8 2021, O’Boyle is seen taunting a female Asda worker as he cooks two burgers on a camping stove in the store

The 30-year-old then shouts ‘I want to be a singer, so I’m going to be a f***ing singer’ before leaping off the till and smashing his guitar on the ground, sending debris all over the store, as he yells incoherently and falls over.

A second video, released on the same day to his 88,500 TikTok fans, saw the prankster frying up two burgers on a camping stove in the middle of the aisle.

The defiant father of two ignored a female Asda worker as she pleaded with him to stop. ‘I rule the roost in my kitchen, alright. Get outta my kitchen,’ goads O’Boyle.