Terrified Asda staff in Dundee’s Kirkton area claim police regularly fail to turn up when workers raise the alarm.
Employees at the store say they don’t feel safe in the wake of Monday evening’s chaos that saw yobs launch fireworks at police and set bins on fire.
Workers are demanding earlier closing times in a bid to avoid being targeted by yobs at night.
The area was compared to a “war-torn nation” by Dundee City Council leader John Alexander in the aftermath of the disorder, with residents dreading Bonfire Night this weekend.
Kirkton Asda – forced to ban schoolkids from nearby school St Paul’s RC Academy in June after workers were spat on – has joined local Tesco and Morrisons stores in banning fireworks and beefing up security.
‘They do not feel safe at the moment’
The allegations from staff, which police denied, were revealed in a letter to local politicians from GMB Scotland’s Robert Deavy.
It read: “Our members are still extremely concerned in particular with the late opening hours of the stores.
“They do not feel safe at the moment working these later shifts when the levels of harassment tend to increase.
“They have also reported to us that there have been issues in communications with the police when they have been contacted to tackle incidents.
“Despite numerous occasions where our members have been forced to use the panic alarm to call for police attention, it’s very rare that officers will actually turn up at the scene.”
Chief Inspector Ross Fitzgerald, Dundee’s area commander, insisted officers always responded promptly when called to the store.
He said: “We are aware of recent issues around youth disorder within the Asda store in Kirkton and local police officers have been liaising closely with management and other relevant partner agencies to address these.
“In the last six months, there have been two activations of the store’s panic alarm and four emergency calls, all of which received an immediate response from police.
“All calls to Police Scotland are subject to assessment and emergency calls are always prioritised.”
‘Kirkton concerns must be heard’
Dundee-based Tory MSP Maurice Golden says their concerns must be heard.
He told The Courier: “In light of what’s happened in recent days it’s clear these workers need greater protection.
“If they are telling bosses they fear for their safety as a result of late opening hours, then that is something that must be taken on board.
“I hope the police can be adequately supported to provide more assistance for these workers too.”
Labour’s Michael Marra said: “I raised the GMB concerns directly with the police in our discussions today.
“They are aware and are keen to work with others to address these problems.”
One police officer was injured in the midst of the violence which gripped Kirkton on Halloween night.
Mr Golden worries Monday’s carnage could be mimicked elsewhere in Scotland this weekend.
He said: “To have riot police on the streets anywhere in Scotland is extremely concerning.
“To have it right on our own doorstep just brings it home.”
Police defend response to Kirkton riot
Tayside police chief Phil Davison has defended Police Scotland’s reaction to this week’s riot – which took place while families with young kids were guising in the area – and allegations the force was unprepared to handle the events.
He said: “Dealing with any incident of mass disorder is always extremely challenging, so there was a significant police presence deployed to the area on Monday.
“We need to be balanced and measured in terms of how and when we step in with tactics to quell and disperse the disorder that we’ve seen.
“That’s on the basis of sometimes going in too early can then antagonise further behaviour and make the situation worse.
“We fall back on experienced commanders that are used to dealing with situations of this nature to ensure the tactics and response provided by policing is appropriate.
“We did not have any information that we were going to see disorder on this scale.”
He added: “The message to the locals residents is one of reassurance, that policing had a significant response to quell the disturbances.
“We will have hi-visibility and local engagement in our communities and we will have an enhance policing presence in the coming days.”
Conversation