A campaign has been launched to tackle violent abuse against highway workers after one was shot at with a crossbow while picking up litter.
Within the last year there were more than 302 cases of abuse across the West Midlands, according to new data from the Think Respect campaign.
Of those, there were 21 involving physical abuse including violence and instances of spitting in the workers’ faces.
Across the UK, 80% of all road workers and other people working on the highway have reported being abused on a monthly basis.
Sinead Ryan says she has had a gun pulled on her while working at a petrol station
The figures have been released with the aim of raising awareness of the challenges public-facing workers experience, campaigners say.
Site foreman Sinead Ryan said, “It’s almost every night, sometimes more. Most of the time it's just people screaming abuse at you but it can be worse, meaning you have to lock yourself in your van and one time I had a gun pulled on me in a petrol station by an irate member of the public.”
'Constant torrent of abuse'
Steve Day, contracts manager at Go Traffic Management added: “This has a massive impact [on the mental health of people], nobody likes to go to work and find themselves subjected to a constant torrent of abuse, let alone to have this every day.”
Kevin Robinson, founder and campaign director of Think Respect added: “The significant increase in workforce abuse in the West Midlands against those who work on the public highway is sadly rising not only there but in every part of the country.
“This has become a societal problem that is getting worse by the day.”
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