A SUPERMARKET giant has revealed violence against staff in the area soared during the pandemic.

Figures showed there was a 52 per cent rise on assaults on staff in Cumbria from the previous year.

It has led to Barrow's MP to call for assault on a shop worker to be made a criminal offence in its own right.

Figures showed across the county there were 73 attacks on staff in 2020/21, up from 48 the previous year.

Since April this year 20 assaults have already been recorded.

MP Simon Fell said: “There has been a worrying increase in assaults on our frontline workers who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to keep us fed.

"This 52 per cent increase is extremely concerning and given Tesco is only one of a number of supermarkets in the area, I fear these figures will be similar in other stores.

"No one should go to work and be in fear of attack and we need to send out a clear message to anyone who attacks a worker that they will feel the full force of the law and their behaviour will not be tolerated.”

Tesco UK CEO Jason Tarry said: “Every day our colleagues, along with hundreds of other retail workers, in every region of the UK face abuse, threats of violence and are even assaulted, simply for doing their jobs. This is not acceptable. Our stores should be safe places to work and shop. There is an opportunity to change the law that will increase the protection of shop workers as they carry out their daily tasks and we welcome the support of Blue Collar MPs on this critical issue.”

The supermarket’s figures for England and Wales show a 50 per cent increase in violent incidents year on year with 19,747 in 2020/21 up from 13,316 the previous year.

As of April, 5,203 violent incidents have been recorded.

Tesco has approximately 250,000 frontline colleagues, meaning 1 in every 12 experienced a serious incident, which it defines as an incident involving a weapon, assault or a threat to colleagues.

A specific offence for assault on emergency workers can carry a higher sentence in court.