UK snow: delivery firms warn that Christmas presents may not

[TrueBlueTerrier]

UK snow: delivery firms warn that Christmas presents may not arrive in time

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Christmas presents may fail to arrive in time because of the snow and freezing conditions, as haulage firms warn of delivery chaos in the next three weeks.

Shoppers were warned by the Road Haulage Association there was a "real possibility" that presents will not arrive in time for Christmas. Photo: REUTERS
By Nick Britten, and Andrew Hough 4:30PM GMT 05 Dec 2010

With shoppers turning their back on the High Street because of the snow and ice, online orders and deliveries are expected to hit unprecedented levels in the next three weeks.

Today has been dubbed “Mega Monday” and is expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year, with an estimated 1,200 orders per minute. The total day's internet shopping spend is forecast to hit £633 million.

Deliveries of goods already ordered have been delayed because of the weather, and thousands of households up and down the country have had no post for days, leading to huge backlogs at Royal Mail depots.

And with the Met Office predicting further snow mid-December, shoppers are being warned by the Road Haulage Association there was a “real possibility” that presents will not arrive in time for Christmas.

Kate Gibbs, the Association’s spokesman, said: “Road haulage operators will be doing their absolute best to make sure that its business as usual this winter but if the snow returns with the same ferocity as last week it is inevitable we will see delayed deliveries over the Christmas period.”
David Irlam, the executive director of the Stobart group, which delivers mainly food and drink, told the BBC the weather had caused “major issues”.
He added: “It is one of the busiest times of the year and we are operating a 24 hour seven day a week operation. But we will seriously not catch up for another fortnight yet.”

Retail experts predicted up to a 75 per cent increase in last year’s online takings and some, including Amazon, Play.com and Vouchercodes.co.uk, believe sales will dwarf last week’s so-called “Mega Monday”, where British consumers spent an estimated £537 million in a day.
It comes after the number of people hitting the shops fell by almost 50 per cent in some areas last week as shoppers were stuck indoors, with Yorkshire and Humberside worst hit.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom on the High St though, with John Lewis seeing weekly sales of £103.7 million, up 1.2pc on last year.
A YouGov survey for Cybermonday.co.uk found almost half of British shoppers had planned to shop online over the past week.

IMRG, the online retailers' trade body, has predicted trading will peak today between midday and 1pm, as office workers use their lunch hour to click and buy.
Moneysupermarket.com predicted sales today of £633 million, 18 per cent up on “Manic Monday”.

None of the major supermarkets said they were predicting problems with deliveries to homes or to stores.

Ian Smith, chief executive officer of Nightfreight, which delivers about 40,000 consignments everyday, said they had been forced to call in extra drivers and vehicles to cope and have doubled customer service resources.

Iain Speak, chief executive officer of Bibby Distribution, one of Britain’s largest privately owned haulage firms, said the recent conditions had been “tough” on his drivers.

He said: “As an industry we are the glue that holds UK PLC together and everything we buy from our shops has been delivered by road whether it is food, groceries, shoes or presents for Christmas.

“It has been difficult. It is hard enough to deliver to some places in the height of summer let alone during weather conditions that we have recently seen. If a vehicle cannot get from A to B efficiently and economically the country comes to a halt.”

Last Monday was also forecast to be the year's online shopping "Mega Monday", but the number of people who abandoned their weekend shopping trips because of the bitter weather have led retailers to predict even bigger sales today.

[clashcityrocker]

I haven't seen a single competitor's van out delivering throughout this cold spell.
No TNT, No DHL, No HDNL, not even a Parcelforce van.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

To be fair - I had a CityLink delivery today Good of my neighbour to bring it from her shed - yep they doorstepped it at the wrong address.

[Pinky 1]

Well i got out late today, usual s**t, only to find that HDNL has been doorstepping Amazon parcels all over my delivery area. They haven't even bothered to try and hide them, just left them in full view for everybody to see ......... and it's snowing FFS

[PostieWithTheMostie!]

I haven't seen a single competitor's van out delivering throughout this cold spell.
No TNT, No DHL, No HDNL, not even a Parcelforce van.

I've seen CityLink & a UK Mail vans out thou none of the above that you've mentioned.

[Stormproof]

Well i got out late today, usual s**t, only to find that HDNL has been doorstepping Amazon parcels all over my delivery area. They haven't even bothered to try and hide them, just left them in full view for everybody to see ......... and it's snowing FFS

RM will get the blame for that then

[plainpat]

Well i got out late today, usual s**t, only to find that HDNL has been doorstepping Amazon parcels all over my delivery area. They haven't even bothered to try and hide them, just left them in full view for everybody to see ......... and it's snowing FFS

RM will get the blame for that then

Tell your DOM Pinky - It can be reported back through the daily conference call and may help to deflect any complaints down the line.

[Pinky 1]

Already done mate ....... me and the Parcelforce driver aint taking the crap for that

[DGP1]

To be fair both City Link and Yodel have been delivering in my area and not even doorstepping them

[not me]

nobody is coming down our roads
had an RM delivery the other day
think thats it
couldnt care less TBH. weather and roads are bad.
nothing in the post requires any urgency from me
the supermarket still gets deliveries and if its bad i can still walk there
I would however like to add that my path,pavement and road outside the house is all clear.
shame nobody else bothers

[webtrekker]

Well, I work for Hermes and we've been delivering almost every day. If we don't, we get double the parcels the next day. They've not even lifted the timebands!

What really gets to me is the fact that all the 'posh' estates I deliver to have been cleared and gritted, whilst the council estates haven't been touched.

And as for the bloke in that article who hasn't received insulin for his diabetic dog ...... haven't you heard of the VET'S mate? I'm sure THEY would supply you if you just got off your lazy arse and WALKED there! If you postie can walk in it, I'm sure YOU can too.