British grocery store owners are calling on the government to help them combat a rising wave of violent crime.

A survey carried out by trade magazine Independent Retail News, revealed that 40% of local shops have been targeted by violent criminals in the past year.

Some shops in high-risk areas have recorded five or more attacks.

Nearly one third of the incidents involved the use of weapons, while 8% required hospital treatment, a doctor's visit, or time off work.

Just under half of the store owners polled said the situation was so bad that they were considering selling up.

Crackdown

"An increasing number of stores are being attacked time and time again," said Independent Retail News editor Richard Siddle.

"They are suffering intolerable levels of stress for simply trying to run a local convenience store."

Mr Siddle urged the Home Office to start keeping a complete record of retail crime statistics, and called for financial assistance to help particularly vulnerable stores install security equipment.

He also called on the government to make the cost of security equipment 100% tax-deductible for all stores.

The Independent Retail News survey showed that only a small proportion of the UK's retail stores had received support from a �15m corner shop security scheme launched by the Home Office last year.

"The Government can ignore this no longer. We need support through tax incentives, stiffer sentencing, and better local crime reduction partnerships," said David Rae, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores.