Tesco delivery drivers have advised each other to take their employer to court if they have to deliver food to people who ‘they are aware of being in self-isolation’ at home due to the coronavirus.
In a forum for Tesco employees, the drivers questioned whether or not it was a fair request to be asked to take food shopping into the homes of those who may have Covid 19.
One driver said there had been a letter distributed around various stores that stated drivers would still have to deliver to customers who had been told to self-isolate.
In response another employee urged them to take the company to court as they claimed it was a breech of its duty of care.
Tesco delivery drivers have advised each other to take their employer to court if they have to deliver food to people who are in self isolation (pictured above a Tesco delivery van)
People on the forum were discussing a letter which was alleged to have been sent around by the company
‘It’s a public health and safety violation if Tesco are endorsing these actions. Drivers will definitely be able to cite many breeches of duty of care to a judge if they get reprimanded for not delivering’, they said.
The employees stated that if someone was in isolation then they were ‘high risk’ and said it wouldn’t be fair for them to deliver goods to the properties as they were still ‘members of the public’ and were also susceptible to the disease.
Some drivers on the forum questioned how they would know if they had been sent to a house where someone was in self isolation.
The government’s current advice to those who are self isolating is to order their shopping online.
The comments from the employees come as one disabled woman claimed a Tesco delivery driver refused to bring shopping into her property because of the corona virus.
Ms Green said there were lots of substitutes in her shopping. People are pictured above getting shopping from a Tesco store
One user on the forum questioned how many drivers had been sent the letter, claiming that no one at their store had seen it
Posting to Facebook Maxine Green said she had been left ‘crying on the floor in a lot of pain’ after a delivery driver refused to bring in her shopping.
She said Tesco drivers now can’t help customers unload groceries ‘because of the coronavirus’.
Tesco’s currently policy regarding home delivery is that it is trying to phase out the use of plastic bags and instead using containers to deliver the shopping – claiming its drivers will be given more time to help them inside.
But Ms Green said one driver told her he was unable to go into her home with the shopping.
Today, March 6, saw the biggest one-day jump in the number of people confirmed to have the coronavirus – there were 47 new cases, bringing the UK’s new total from 116 to 163
Maxine Green posted to Facebook that Tesco drivers were no longer able to take delivers inside properties
‘What is NOT advertised anywhere I could see on the website is that current ‘anti-coronavirus’ policy means that (at least according to the driver I spoke with today) drivers are in fact NOT allowed to enter your house to help unpack goods, NOT EVEN FOR CUSTOMERS WITH DISABILITIES.
‘This is supposed to reduce the risk of infection… despite the fact that infection is most likely to be conveyed by touch, and we’re still expected to touch the same boxes, the same products, and the same electronic device in order to sign the delivery receipt, and delivery drivers gloves are very obviously neither washable nor disposable.
‘So it’s a policy that disproportionately impacts on disabled customers while being utterly ineffectual at achieving its stated purpose’.
She said the driver had been extremely apologetic but that he was only able to take the crates to her door step and watch her struggle with the items.
Ms Green slammed the company and its policies and said she would not be using its services again.
There are now 90 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Britain, after three more were confirmed in Scotland this morning
Ms Green continued in her post that this policy would hit disabled people the most
‘Tesco you are badly letting down your disabled customers – and presumably your elderly, infirm, single parent, and otherwise less able ones too.
‘I’m shocked and disgusted by the thoughtlessness of your company policies, and I won’t be using your services again unless I’m one hundred percent certain that these issues have been resolved fully. I really hope your management read this and learn.’
Tesco were unable to comment this afternoon.
It comes as the UK had its first death from the coronavirus yesterday.
Another patient in his 80s today was feared to have become Britain’s second coronavirus death.
The unnamed man is thought to have succumbed to the illness at Milton Keynes University Hospital last night.
The number of people diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK has now tripled in the space of three days, with just 51 cases confirmed on Tuesday. Forty-seven cases were announced today – the UK’s largest daily toll.