Tesco was criticised today for planning 24-hour opening at an Oxford store where staff have suffered violent attacks.

Union leaders said proposals for round-the-clock shopping at the Cowley Road store were crazy and one worker accused the company of putting profit before people.

USDAW, the shop workers' union, said there had been a catalogue of assaults on staff at the store in the past few months, including:

*A security guard being stabbed and nearly losing his thumb

*A manager needing hospital treatment to remove a fingernail from his eye after an assault

*An assault on a pregnant member of staff

*A man chasing and threatening to stab security guards with a hyperdermic needle.

One woman worker, who did not want to be named, said: "Members of staff are very, very worried because we think we are going to be more vulnerable.

"This is unfair for the safety of the staff. They are putting profit before people."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "If staff think they have got a legitimate concern, they should take it up with Tesco and we will respond to it as best we can."

Union spokesman Mike Parsonage said at least half a dozen staff had already spoken to him because they were unhappy about the new hours, due to be introduced on April 2.

He said: "We think that 24-hour opening is just crazy. We are very concerned because we think this is an inappropriate store to create 24-hour opening

"It has a history of violence. We are not certain that they are going to provide the level of security that will be required for that sort of opening.

"I think they are heading for a real problem."

He added: "The level of violence in the store is totally different from any other store I have ever dealt with."

He said he would be calling on the store managers to meet him for discussions before pushing ahead with the plans.

The Oxford Mail revealed in January that police had been called to the store, pictured above, at least once a week since October. Some officers had been assaulted while attending incidents there.

Staff said they had been reduced to tears by assaults and other incidents, including being spat at.