Morrisons car parks to be used as Covid-19 vaccine sites

Morrisons chief executive David Potts said the assets of the company are “at the disposal of the country” – with a further 47 sites being made available to the Government.

“We’ll have three stores operating from Monday, January 11 and we have offered up another 47 subject to requirements and availability of the vaccine,” he said.

Mr Potts added that, despite the introduction of new national lockdowns in England and Scotland, the supermarket will not introduce limits on certain products initially.

“We haven’t got limits on things like pasta and flour and all of those things that people seem to stock up on,” he said.

“I think we’ll see how the British people handle the news. Clearly we can turn it on fairly sharpish and it’s really making sure that everyone has stock.”

The first lockdown in March saw supermarket shelves across the country stripped bare and bosses are keen to avoid similar scenes.

He added that the new lockdowns – including the order for vulnerable people to shield – are likely to affect the same 2,500 workers at the supermarket who were forced to shield during the March lockdown.

As a result of extra Covid-related costs, the supermarket will spend £10 million and has seen a fall in takings due to cafe closures and fuel as fewer journeys are made.

But, overall, sales at the grocer soared 9.3% in the past three weeks, which included the key Christmas trading period, compared with the same time a year ago.

There had been fears that some products might not make it to supermarket shelves due to the Covid-19 border closures in December between the UK and France and subsequently over Brexit fears.

But Mr Potts said products continue to arrive without delays. He said: “On Brexit, the volume crossing the Channel is obviously low at this time of year, so I think any delay on paperwork and process post 31st December is yet to be felt or visible. So far we’ve not seen any delays.”

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