Staff at a village shop have been threatened, abused and attacked by thugs refusing to wear masks.

Bosses from Bridgeway Stores in Bridge, near Canterbury, say employees have had obscenities and grocery items hurled their way after refusing to serve people who ignored pleas to cover their faces.

Shop owner Ranjit Dhaliwal

Owner Ranjit Dhaliwal has also been told by louts that they would burn the shop down and even kill him following disputes over social-distancing and mask-wearing.

He estimates that since lockdown was first imposed in March last year, there have been as many as 20 incidents inside the store – six of which have taken place in the past month.

“Abuse has been happening all the time since March,” the businessman said.

“We started with people refusing to queue up and coming right to our faces – and at that time we didn’t start wearing masks then.

“People aren’t taking this seriously. I’ve got a dozen employees and I’m sure every one of them has been abused.”

Police confirmed officers were called to the Bridge store last Thursday to reports a man in his 20s had verbally abused a shop worker when he was asked to wear a face mask.

Officers are carrying out investigations and reviewing CCTV.

Mr Dhaliwal has called police following a handful of the incidents, with one of the investigations resulting in a man being arrested. He was later released without charge.

But the retailer, who has owned Bridgeway for about 30 years, says he is being urged by family members to sell the store as they believe “it is not a safe time now”.

“We’ve been told they’re going to come back and torch our shop about four months ago. It’s just been mad,” Mr Dhaliwal added.

“We’re getting verbal abuse and threats, and it’s worse now than it’s ever been before. We had one on Monday where one of our staff was sworn at.

“Because we’re a private enterprise, we can refuse entry to our business if they’re not going to adhere to our rules.

“I’ve got plenty of signs outside warning them they will need to wear masks.”

Mr Dhaliwal says he and his employees also fear they could catch coronavirus from one of the bare-faced customers – many of whom claim to be exempt from having to wear masks.

Government guidance states customers must wear a face covering inside shops and supermarkets, “unless you are exempt or have a reasonable excuse”.

Under the rules, premises in which masks are required “should take reasonable steps to promote compliance with the law” and, if necessary, police can issue fines of £200 to first offenders.

“Most of them say they’re asthmatic, and what makes me laugh is they go to the cigarette gantry to buy cigarettes,” Mr Dhaliwal continued.

“People are being selfish and I don’t think they like to be told what to do.”

“We’re getting verbal abuse and threats, and it’s worse now than it’s ever been before..."

Mez Amin, who runs One-Stop in Hales Place, has instructed his employees not to refuse to serve customers who enter without wearing a face covering.

Instead, he has told them to ask why they are without a mask and to warn those who are not exempt that they will not be allowed entry if they repeat the same mistake again.

Despite this, Mr Amin says his workers have also faced vitriol and aggressive behaviour.

“It’s got worse since November - we’ve had about five major incidents in that time,” he added.

“We’ve called police two or three times at least. It’s just not nice. It’s made staff a bit more anxious to ask. It’s really difficult to police.”

During a previous incident in Herne Bay, a staff member at Baydis was pushed up against a counter, grabbed around the neck and sworn at by a customer after asking him to wear a mask.

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