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Arena Magazine Issue 04 |
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Youth crime scourge
Teenage gangs and troublemakers are a real part of the problems facing shopworkers throughout the UK, as Safeway admin manager Wullie Black can testify.
Wullie damaged knee ligaments when a young shoplifter turned on him after he'd been asked to leave the store. "We'd been bothered over a period of time by gangs of youths coming into the store to shoplift," said Wullie, who works at the store in Moredun, Midlothian.
"A number of them had already been barred. When I spotted a gang in the store one evening and asked them to leave I got a tirade of verbal abuse. One of them went to swing a punch at me and, as I tried to avoid it, I slipped and twisted my knee."
The police had to be called as trouble escalated with rocks and bottles being thrown at the shop. "Unfortunately youths shoplifting is an ongoing problem," added Wullie. "We now have a security guard who is helping to reduce the number of incidents.
"Usdaw's Freedom From Fear campaign has gone down well in our store. People are signing the petition, and welcome the aims and objectives the union is campaigning for. I'm right behind it."
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