Tesco hour for nhs workers not going as planned!

[astraea]

This is my local Tesco this morning (I did not take the photo). They opened for the first hour for nhs staff and vulnerable. This is what it resulted in!

I am a key worker too, I am struggling to get
Essentials to feed my family. I just can't believe what is happening!

Loads of similar pics on Twitter. One tweet said staff were not checking for ID therefore they should blame the shop not the shoppers, not everyone will have been aware of the changes. This is for anyone who works at the NHS too, anyone with a card so we're talking a lot of people. I live near a hospital & they've done huge recruitment drives in the local area for jobs in recent months so all those people will go to the same few shops!

This should all have been planned back in January.
This government is showing no leadership at all.

Also, ours was busy but not to that level.

I got there 15 minutes after the priority hour began and there were about 30 people queuing ahead of me. Lady at the door wiping trolleys and checking nhs Id as we entered. Was quite civilised. I don’t think they’ll do it long term though if things continue to be as busy and demand is so high.

Sainsburys sent me an email that addresses mixing nhs staff and elderly/vulnerable. They now give 30 minutes for NHS followed by 1 hour for elderly/vulnerable, so they are not having them in the store together

Can't store managers run a dedicated delivery service for NHS front line workers.

From Sainsburys:

We have therefore decided to allow NHS and social care workers to shop in our supermarkets for half an hour before they open each day. So anyone with NHS ID will be able to shop from 07.30-08.00 every day from Monday to Saturday. We're delighted to be able to offer priority shopping to all the hard-working NHS staff across the country who are working so hard to keep us all safe and well.

In addition to this, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 08.00-09.00 to serving elderly customers, disabled customers and carers.

It’s a disaster. I went this morning as it’s the only opportunity I would have this week to get milk and bread. I am working 14 hour days every day so it’s impossible.

It was bedlam. Groups of people, no control over who was going in. I spoke to the manager who was outside and said this was unsafe, it needed control and that the risks were massive. He essentially told me to shut up, wasn’t interested in the slightest.

No one has any intention of taking responsibility for themselves in this.

They definitely need to bring in bouncers and do badge checks, single file.
They stores have security already so it shouldn't be difficult to implement en masse.

*most stores

I attempted to go but couldn't even get parked, cars dumped everywhere, queues of cars out in the road. Masses of people outside. It was awful, I just left didn't even try to park. I saw a woman in her car crying as she couldn't get parked, she must have been so desperate for food!

You must be in the same city as me, that's my local Tesco too!!! It's horrendous. No wonder we will end up on lockdown if people can't take responsibility

Liverpool FC have offered for match stewards to go to stores for crowd control! This is crazy!!

People are selfish toads, crowding in like that when a time has been set aside for NHS workers. I cannot believe that all those people work for the NHS.

@changedmyname2019

Hull? It's utter madness! I'm a social worker so don't get any priority for shopping unfortunately, even though we are an essential service. I am starting to worry what I am going to do in a few days when my food runs out !

I think this is Tesco in most of the country. When you think they are the biggest employer it’s not really surprising is it?

This picture looks like a recipe for the disease spreading....we need he lcokdown and a click and collect service or delivery only.

Sounds like it’s down to individual store managers why this failed in some areas then.

Single file line here. Three staff going up and down the line wiping trolleys, checking Id and asking us to keep a few steps back from the person in front. Elderly people asked to leave the line and return when the shop opened to general public and informed of the elderly priority hour on other days this week.

When the hour was up, most nhs staff were checking out at the tills but there was still a bit of overlap and it got a bit busy then.

This has not been well thought out.

I'm an NHS Worker. I went to my local Tesco today. Got there about 8.50, massive queue but in an orderly line around the edge of the car park. Took about half an hour for me to get in. ID was checked, anyone without ID was asked to stand in a different line. Really busy and I still didn't get any toilet rolls!! Managed to get most other things I wanted - eggs, flour, some fresh meat which I haven't seen any of for a while.
They couldn't start selling until 10 so queues for the till were the length of the shop by then, it was after 11 by the time I paid shopping. Was pretty civilised albeit mega busy!

I think supermarkets are going to have to go to a system of alternate DAYS for vulnerable/essential workers. I.e. something like Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday for them, and then other days for everyone else. There are so many "vulnerable/essential" that 1 hour per day is nowhere near enough.

I did go this morning and it was busy but pretty calm. People queued up nicely and no one fell out about anything. People were polite. There was quite a lot of stuff except pasta

But they all went to get coffee from Costa no lines on floor everyone mixed up and most people brought their partner along or their mum aunt and sister

There were security guards checking ID on the way in and we did queue

I have been struggling to get things lately but I only picked up 1 of anything and spent £50. I can now cancel my online delivery for tuesday

Someone near me had a huge trolley and kept doing a dash to other aisles so they didn’t lose their queue place. Most of us had small trollies or baskets but this couple just kept filling it up with beer cereal and bread etc etc it was gross. No restrictions on limits that I could see and staff gave us all flowers

When I went to leave, the general public were congregating outside abandoning cars everywhere, I could hardly get out of the door for a queue and people were driving erratically

Since I got back I actually do feel a bit rough

There could have been lots of others there who didn’t know about the rule tbf.

Surely a better idea would be: sign up to Tesco online with a .nhs email address and get protected delivery/click and collect slots? (maybe after hours?)

Tesco are making mega- bucks from all this!! As are other supermarkets I'm sure.

They couldn't start selling until 10

Which is something the Govt really need to scrap at the moment. Sunday trading laws are stupid in normal times, but under these circumstances, it's just making a bad situation even worse.