Shopper smashes two shelves of wine in Co-op in anger over Covid one-way system
30 September 2020, 10:21
Customer smashes two shelves of wine after being asked to follow Covid rules
This is the moment an angry shopper smashed two shelves of wine in a Co-op store after being asked to adhere to coronavirus rules.
The furious customer began throwing items and yelling at staff after they asked her to follow the shop's one-way system.
Footage caught on CCTV shows the woman at the checkout hitting the perspex screen that separates store-goers and workers.
The livid shopper then appears to launch two items down an aisle before marching towards the wine section and pushing other staff out of her way.
Dressed in a red jacket, grey trousers and a black T-shirt, she then proceeds to drag dozens of bottles of red wine and other alcoholic drinks off two shelves.
The angry customer then stomps back towards the tills, leaving a pool of alcohol in her wake.
She is then seen hurling herself at the perspex screen, with the two Co-op workers who were visible at the start of the footage no longer in shot.
The video lasts around 25 seconds and the woman reportedly left the store immediately after.
A staff member, who wishes to remain anonymous, described to Metro how the woman began screaming at her and other workers.
She said: "She got very angry and started shouting at me and my colleague who were serving customers from behind the protective till screen.
"She stormed up to the till screen and just flipped out, punching and kicking it before rushing over to the alcohol aisle where she started grabbing bottles of wine, sending them smashing them to the ground."
The Co-op released the video as part of a campaign about increasing levels of violence and abuse towards shop workers.
CEOs from 23 major British retailers and the sector’s leading industry bodies joined forces in writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking him to provide effective legal protection for shop workers.
The move comes in the week that Alex Norris MP is due to get a second reading of his private members bill – Assaults on Retail Workers – on Friday 25 September.
The legislation calls upon the government to create a new offence which would carry higher penalties for those that abuse or attack shop workers when they are trying to enforce the law on age-restricted sales.
