A shop owner in County Limerick spoke about how he and his son have been victims of harassment, abuse and theft as part of a crime spree in Ireland, reports The Mirror.
The problem isn’t limited to stores like Spar, with the Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Trades Association sounding the alarm over its members’ concern about a rise in antisocial behaviour.
Shane Gleeson, who runs five Spar stores in Limerick city, said he had received threats of breaking windows and threatening his son with a knife.
“I’ve had a bottle of wine broken and been threatened with the broken glass. I’ve had guys with needles…My son was threatened with a knife.”
Shane estimated that petty crime in one of his shops cost between 70,000 and 80,000 euros a year.
He told Prime Time: “We’ve noticed since Covid a very small element of society has gotten far more aggressive, and it is difficult to deal with,” reports The Irish Mirror.
Tara Buckley, general manager of RGDATA, which represents more than 4,000 independent grocery stores, said its members have begun raising fundamental concerns.
“The amount of crime day in, day out – shoplifting, theft, assault, harassment, racist attacks, sexual harassment…our members are really concerned,” reports The Mirror.
A recent RGDATA survey of 400 convenience store, forecourt and supermarket owners found that 95% of them had been victims of crime in the past 12 months.
Elaine Brennan, an area Manager for Circle K in Dublin said: “A small portion of our business will be 24/7 and at later stages of the night, we get people in intoxicated. This would bring on aggressive behaviour, which leads to foul language, shouting and, unfortunately, sometimes they will put their hands on our colleagues,” reports The Mirror.
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