ABSTRACT
Sanctions can range from the appropriate use of time – ‘You have just been shouting at me, I will not see you for thirty minutes’ – to the ultimate sanction of withdrawing a service, where appropriate. The London Borough of Croydon, for example, in its corporate policy states:
The council is committed to using legal action to prevent violence to its staff and deter the violent customer. The legal department will, on behalf of the council, institute criminal proceedings following the abuse of or an assault upon an employee (subject to evidence).
