Disrupted deliveries continue to dog retailers

Dave Wyatt, who runs the Costcutter on the forecourt at Crawley Down garage, West Sussex, said: “Staff it hasn’t affected, deliveries are worse.

“The ping fiasco masked the bigger issue of driver shortages which will not be resolved any time soon.”

Onkar Sandhu, of Sandhu Stores in Tamworth, Staffordshire, agreed. He said: “The issue for us is with the supply chain. Time will tell if it’s just incompetence or lack of resource due to the ping.”

Others expressed more general dissatisfaction with the modern supply chain.

Amit Puntambekar, proprietor of Ash’s Store in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, said: “The whole vibe around logistics has changed to be very corporate.”

Many retailers said that the pressure on the supply chain was clear and that suppliers were not all handling it well.

Su Nithyanandan, who runs a Costcutter in Epsom, said: “The fire break Nisa did over the weekend looked they have an issue in house too.

“There is a problem with drivers and the Covid app. But also there’s the summer holidays and together with the warm weather the whole chain crumbled.

“Nisa definitely did not have a plan of action. Hopefully they have got a plan in place now.”

A Nisa spokeswoman said: “Across the UK driver shortages and the need to isolate are impacting supply chains and the delivery of goods.

“We are working with our suppliers, logistics colleagues and Nisa partners to ensure we keep delivering stock in these challenging circumstances, and we have taken various action to help over the longer term.

“We are in regular communication with our partners to keep them aware of any delivery changes.”

Others having issues included A F Blakemore. A spokesperson said: “Due to challenges with the national driver shortages and increase in Covid isolation, AF Blakemore has cancelled chilled deliveries scheduled out of its Willenhall and Wakefield depots for one day only (Tuesday 3rd August).

“Ambient deliveries from the two depots and customers out of the Talbot Green and Bedford depots will be serviced as normal.”