MP reacts to violent till snatching incident at Derbyshire Central England Co-op

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 24/11/2020

A Derbyshire MP has condemned a violent till snatching incident at a Central England Co-op store in Derbyshire.

Nigel Mills, MP for Amber Valley, spoke out after a man entered its Horsley Woodhouse store, lunged over the till, grabbed crash and fled the scene last Friday.

Colleagues were left shaken but luckily nobody was injured during the incident. The team are now working with the local police and supporting its investigation.

The parliamentarian praised the work of shopworkers, supported efforts for them to receive better protection and backed calls for the perpetrator to be brought to justice.

Mr Mills said: “I was shocked to hear of the incident at the Co-op in Horsley Woodhouse last week.” There is no excuse for violent and threatening behaviour at any time.

“At this time of crisis especially we should all be supporting key workers, including those keeping supermarkets open so we can all buy the essentials we need. I would urge anyone who can help the police with their enquiries to come forward. Those who threaten shop workers should face the full force of the law.”

This comes just days after the retailer issued its ‘not worth the risk’ warning to criminals as part of an ongoing campaign to keep colleagues and customers safe as the nights draw in and Covid-19 restrictions continue.

The coming months will see Central England Co-op increasing a range of different measures in stores including; expanding a service it uses that allows colleagues, at the touch of the button, to call for assistance, and putting tracking devices in more products to deter would-be thieves.

This will sit alongside a recently launched trial of body worn cameras which, if successful, could be rolled out across all stores.

The campaign comes on the back of new figures which have revealed that, in Central England Co-op stores this year, verbal abuse has risen by 205%, threats and intimidation by 122% and assaults by 47%.

It can also be revealed that the retailer has recorded a total of 232 crimes related directly to covid-19.

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About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral and property investment.

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

Our 7,550 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 400 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

Phone - 01543 421390

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop