Iceland stores and BP petrol stations are the first to be shut by pingdemic

View
comments

Supermarkets and petrol stations have been forced to shut due to staff shortages caused by the ‘pingdemic’ amid warnings 20 per cent of workers could be isolating in less than a month.

Iceland said it had closed ‘a number of stores’ due to staff having to self-isolate after being notified by the NHS app.

The frozen food chain revealed 1,000 employees – four per cent of its workforce – have had to stay at home.

It confirmed in the next few days it will start to draft in another 2,000 people to fill temporary roles across its shops following an advertising blitz in stores, on social media and in service stations.

Meanwhile BP said it has had to temporarily close some of its stations due to a petrol and diesel supply problem.

The oil company said the ‘vast majority’ of issues were being ‘resolved within a day’ but noted they were being caused by a shortage of lorry drivers that had been ‘pinged’.

And M&S warned one in five – 20 per cent – of its workforce could be isolating at home by the middle of next month – meaning it could have to slash opening hours.

It comes as it emerged as many as 1.7million workers are thought to be in quarantine, either through being pinged by the NHS Covid app or contacted by test and trace officials.

The Prime Minister, Chancellor and Health Secretary are all also in self-isolation and yesterday Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer joined them after one of his children contracted Covid.

Bosses say the sheer number of staff being ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid app is putting their businesses at risk. They want key employees to be able to escape quarantine if they are double jabbed and test negative for the virus. But Boris Johnson insisted this will not happen until August 16.

Pictures from today showed aisles at some supermarkets already empty of cheese, meat, bottle water, ice cream and fresh vegetables as an expert warned food chains were ‘starting to fail’ due to staff shortages exacerbated by the ‘pingdemic’.

Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl and Morrisons stores in Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Southampton were seen with significant gaps on the shelves in sections including frozen fish, pizzas, bottled water, ice creams and packaged salads.

The images will raise concerns a lack of supermarket staff and delivery drivers are leading to delays in replenishing product lines, although it is likely many of these products are in higher demand in the summer, while other shoppers reported plentiful supplies.

Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘We are already seeing a serious impact on retail operations as a result of staff having to self-isolate and this will only get worse.’

She demanded an end to ‘needless quarantine’ for people who have been double-jabbed and tested negative for Covid.

In the face of widespread anger over labour shortages as Covid cases continued to soar, the Prime Minister this week announced a plan for a ‘small number’ of critical workers to be able to continue their functions.

But British Meat Processors Association chief executive Nick Allen criticised ‘confusing messages’ from the Government as he said ministers have not clarified who is applicable.

He told the Today programme: ‘There’s an air of despondency creeping through the industry really. Until now we’ve managed to keep the food supply chain running but there’s a sense of we’re starting to fail on that front.’

Asked if production lines are stalling, he said: ‘They are. It’s happening already. We’re starting to see that at retail level and in restaurants – everyone is struggling to get things out really.’

The Road Haulage Association estimates there is now a shortage of 100,000 lorry drivers in the UK, which they warn has been hampering deliveries of food from warehouses to supermarkets.

Thousands of prospective drivers are waiting for their HGV tests due to a backlog caused by lockdown, while many existing ones have left the UK after Brexit.

The problem has been exacerbated by Covid, with drivers having to go into self-isolation, and there being a backlog in drivers waiting to take their tests to qualify.

In other developments:

• The UK recorded another 44,104 Covid cases and 73 deaths;
• Figures showed it will take until October to jab all under-30s at current rates;
• Labour signalled it could join Tory rebels in voting against the Prime Minister’s plan for mandatory vaccine passports;
• A report showed that Covid had killed 39,000 care home residents.
• Health Secretary Sajid Javid faced mounting pressure to perform a U-turn over France being excluded from new quarantine-free travel rules for the double-jabbed;
• The Government will use a new slogan urging the public to ‘keep life moving’ this summer. 

Iceland boss Richard Walker said: ‘A number of stores have had to close and the concern is that as this thing rises exponentially, it could get a lot worse.

‘We urgently need an overhaul of the rules around the Test and Trace app, ideally switching to a ‘Test and Release’ model, which would come as a huge relief to employers, employees and customers and support the wider efforts to strengthen the economy.’

A spokesman for Iceland continued: ‘We have been bringing local colleagues in from nearby stores to support the stores that need more help.

‘It has been all hands to the pump. We’ve seen managers driving delivery vans and really going above and beyond.’

They added: ‘Any availability impact is due to absence in HGV drivers, but moreover a far deeper rooted issue in HGV drivers UK-wide, worsened by the pingdemic.’

Meanwhile BP said: ‘We are working hard with our haulier supplier to deliver fuel into sites and minimise any disruption to our customers. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

‘Our supply chain has been impacted by the industry-wide driver shortages across the UK, and was exacerbated by the temporary closure of our Hemel Hempstead fuel distribution terminal last week because of necessary Covid-19 isolations amongst staff. The terminal is now operating as normal once again.’

And M&S boss Steve Rowe said by the middle of August up to one in five – 20 per cent – of his workforce could be isolating at home. He said: ‘If there’s shortages we’ll have to manage it by changing hours of stores [and] reducing hours.’ 

Elsewhere other shops faced problems, with Tesco and Asda in Cambridge running out of household staples with lots of empty shelves at their stores this afternoon.

At Tesco there was a shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables, fridge food, water, beer and kitchen roll. Whilst Asda was short of bread, fruit and vegetables.

Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson apologised to businesses for the disruption they had experienced, but urged people to stick with the rules until they change because ‘isolation is a vital tool of our defence’.

‘I apologise to everybody in business up and down the land in all kinds of services, public sector or otherwise, who are experiencing inconvenience,’ he said.

But Sir Keir Starmer hit back accused Mr Johnson of ‘trying to dodge’ his own quarantine after his contact with Covid-positive Health Secretary Sajid Javid and highlighted inconsistencies in policy.

‘When it comes to creating confusion the Prime Minister is a superspreader,’ the Labour leader said, as he accused Mr Johnson of ushering in a ‘summer of chaos’.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng also faced urgent questions during a call with more than a dozen trade associations.

The ‘pretty animated’ conversations saw several business leaders leave unhappy after the MP tried to blame the app as a communication problem rather than a policy problem, according to the FT.

Today a third of the Dorset Police control room staff were off work after being notified by the NHS Covid app or Test & Trace to self-isolate or following a positive test – at the same time as 999 calls surged 20 per cent week on week.

Meanwhile the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland warned the public that call response times will rise due to the ‘pingdemic’.

Royal Mail has also seen an increase in absences due self-isolating staff, and this morning announced delays to deliveries in 10 parts of England.  

Mr Johnson has promised to exempt some essential workers from quarantine, but today British Meat Processors Association chief executive Nick Allen said the industry is not clear who will be included in this scheme. 

‘It was made very clear to us late yesterday that this exemption will be for very, very few people. They described it as setting the bar very, very high and we’re certainly not counting on that,’ he said.

Pubs and shops have complained about having to close because of the number of people being ‘pinged’ as contacts by the NHS Covid-19 app, while medics have also raised concerns.

The latest figures show more than 500,000 people in England and Wales were asked to isolate by the NHS app in the week up to July 1.

In response to a lack of staff, Thameslink and Southern announced a reduced timetable from Monday, publishing a list of affected routes online. 

Samuel Tombs, from consultants Pantheon Macroeconomics, estimated that after including confirmed cases, and taking into account the subsequent growth in infections, it was plausible that 1.77m people, or 2.7% of the population, were not self-isolating. 

The issue has hit the health service itself, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, saying many ambulance and acute hospital trusts were finding themselves ‘under extreme pressure’ because of a combination of ‘very high demand and very high levels of staff absence due to self-isolation’.  

The recent days have seen delays on the Tube, trains and the cancellation of bin collections.  

The latest play to be cancelled after losing cast members to self-isolation is Kenneth Branagh’s production of The Browning Version, the Financial Times reported.   

Mr Johnson resisted calls from businesses struggling to cope with reduced staffing levels by declining to introduce a more wide-reaching change to quarantine rules ahead of August 16, when a testing regime will replace the requirement for fully-vaccinated contacts to isolate.

The Prime Minister argued self-isolation is ‘one of the few shots we have got left in our locker’ as he scrapped most remaining legal restrictions in England on so-called ‘freedom day’ on Monday.

He suggested an exemption would cover some in hospitals and care homes, or working in the supply of food, electricity and medicines, and transport, defence and borders.

But the Government has said there is no ‘blanket exemption for any sector or role’ and decisions will be made largely on a case-by-case basis.

Downing Street has declined to say how many people will be granted exemptions, but it is understood the figure is not expected to reach the high tens of thousands.

One executive said officials had suggested yesterday that they would take an ‘unbelievably hard line’ on exemptions as they sought to minimise the relief.

‘The mood might change if there are empty shelves over the weekend,’ he said. 

The deluge of absences at Dorset Police comes at a time of heightened demand for the emergency service, with calls to 101, the non-emergency number, up by 11% from last week.

And the crisis is set to worsen – hundreds of thousands of families from outside the area are starting to flood into resorts like Bournemouth as the school holidays begin and temperatures remain balmy.

A spokesman said 35 per cent of control room staff are currently off because they Covid, coronavirus symptoms or are having to self-isolate following a request by the NHS Test and Trace app.

‘Significant work has been undertaken to mitigate the impact this is having on our service and many of those who are isolating are able to work from home and respond to non-urgent calls to service that are made via our digital channels,’ she said.

‘We are asking the public to help us further by using our online non-emergency channels where possible rather than calling 101.

‘Anyone calling 101 may have to wait some time before speaking to a call handler as our 999 service must remain our priority.

‘Please remember, only dial 999 in an emergency – when life is threatened, people are injured, offenders are nearby, or immediate action is required. We would like to thank the public for their understanding and patience at this challenging time.’

Meanwhile Cleveland Police had to cancel rest days and annual leave for some officers, as well as bringing in others from different shifts, to fill gaps caused by staff having to self-isolate.

It was reported five officers were taken off duty and self-isolating in just one incident after they came into contact with a virus-positive prisoner.

Police and crime commissioner Steve Turner called on the Government to review the rules for emergency workers who are pinged.

He called for healthy emergency workers to be tested daily for coronavirus so they will not automatically be taken off frontline duties.

He told the BBC: ‘We have got to provide a service. We suddenly find ourselves cancelling rest days and cancelling leave and bringing officers in from other shifts to cover where we have got the gaps.

‘However, our call times will go up, we will miss some calls we would normally pick up because we have less resilience in the call centre and all of these things will have a knock-on effect for the Cleveland public.’

The force declined to say how many officers were off after being alerted by the Test and Trace app.

A spokesman said: ‘We’re seeing an increase in demand on requests for service due to the heatwave, restrictions being lifted and the school holidays.

‘We’re also seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases and self-isolation across the workforce which is having an impact on the front line.

‘We have put swift plans in place to ensure that we can respond to the most vulnerable in our communities and deal with 999 emergencies, however the public may experience delays in call answering for non-emergency incidents and we’re asking people to use the website to report or ask for advice if they are able.

‘For operational reasons we don’t provide the details of current levels of sickness as part of our overall strategy to keep the public safe from interested criminals.’