Urgent action is being called for following a 'brutal attack' on a shopkeeper in Cardross.

The Advertiser previously reported that police in Helensburgh issued descriptions of four 13-year-old girls they wanted to trace after a village shopkeeper was allegedly attacked following a theft from his store.

The four teenagers reportedly stole the drink from Cardross Post Office at around 6.25pm on October 21, according to police.

Now, Helensburgh and Lomond's MSP Jackie Baillie has backed her Scottish Labour colleague Daniel Johnson, who has highlighted the shocking news that there have been almost 8,000 reported cases of shop worker abuse or assault since August 2021.

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He has laid the issue bare in a letter to the new Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Jo Farrell, which states that since the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 was introduced, an order to tackle the abuse too many shop workers face, it has been used a staggering 7,955 times.

Mr Johnson’s letter was co-signed by the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Scottish Grocers’ Federation, the Federation of Independent Retailers, Usdaw, the Scottish Co-Op Party, and GMB Scotland, with Ms Baillie fully supporting its contents.

Mr Baillie has now urged the new Chief Constable to ensure shop workers feel safe.

She said: “It is a scandal that so many shop workers face violence and abuse at work and I was shocked to read of the incident in Cardross recently which must have been terrifying for the staff member involved.

“Workers are too often bearing the brunt of retail crime, and the astonishing number of crimes being reported exposes the scale of this crisis.

“The new legal protection offered by this bill was an important step forward, but it must be backed up with a comprehensive plan to prevent these crimes as well as prosecute them.

“Shop workers must be safe at work and the SNP must ensure the new Chief Constable has the support and resources she needs to make that a reality.”