Deliveroo, Pizza Express, Dishoom, Morrisons and Pho are among the businesses to call for an expansion of the Government’s plan to create a new offence for assaulting or threatening retail workers at their place of work, to include delivery riders while they are out on their jobs.
Restaurant and retail bosses have written to the Home Secretary urging for delivery riders, who are an “essential lifeline” of the industry, to be given greater protections from abuse under the Government’s new Bill to tackle crime.
“The Government has rightly committed to creating a standalone offence of assaulting or threatening our retail workers when they’re at their place of work, but this stops short of protecting delivery riders when they are on a delivery.”.
Among the measures to tackle anti-social behaviour and knife crime, there are plans to protect retail workers by introducing the new offence, and by making shop theft of under £200 value a more serious offence.
Instead, backers of the campaign want the Government to include delivery riders in the new offence, to apply throughout their whole journey from accepting an order, to travelling to collect it and drop it off to customers.
