Iceland MD Richard Walker: add supermarket store workers to quarantine exemption list

Iceland Managing Director, Richard Walker, has called on the UK government to take urgent action and add supermarket store workers to its quarantine rules exemption list.

Supermarket depot workers and food manufacturers in England will now be exempt.

The move comes after the rising number of retail workers being forced to self-isolate began to affect the availability of some products.

Workers, regardless of vaccination status, will be able to do daily Covid testing instead of isolating. Up to 10,000 people are expected to qualify for the scheme.

The new daily contact testing measures begin today at 15 supermarket depots, followed by 150 depots next week, but they will not apply to supermarket store staff.

Walker has blasted the government on Twitter this morning.

The food supply chain only works if teams are in place at each stage – no point in fixing the manufacturing & logistics issues if there is no one to put products on the shelves & serve customers.

We need the Govt to take urgent action and add store workers to the exemption list.
— Richard Walker (@icelandrichard) July 23, 2021

Sort it out!

Earlier this week, Walker told Radio 4’s Today programme that Iceland had over 1,000 staff off work, after they were ‘pinged’ by an NHS Covid app.

He said staff absence rates were double the usual number, with the figure rising 50% week-on-week as more people were told to self-isolate by the app.

Walker commented: “Our big concern is that we’ve kept all of our shops open throughout the pandemic, but now we have had to close one or two shops and reduce hours in others.”

“And that could get a lot worse a lot quicker, unless the country’s system is sorted out.”

He also urged shoppers not to panic buy, saying: “There is certainly no problem with supply of stock.”

“Panic buying is only an option for those who can afford it and it often means that others go without.”