Extra work for the milkman as nation takes to deliveries

THOUSANDS of households have returned to having milk delivered to their doors, while computer monitor sales have doubled in a week as the nation begins working from home.

Milk and More, the UK’S largest milk and groceries delivery service, has reported an increase of 25,000 customers and is recruiting 100 milkmen and women as local deliverers said demand had “gone berserk”.

Meanwhile, homeowners are using the enforced period of self-isolation to get improvement projects under way, with DIY stores and garden centres also reporting a notable spike in sales.

Gym equipment is also selling out as fitness fanatics set themselves up to exercise at home.

Boris Johnson announced last week that all businesses should encourage employees to work from home wherever possible in a bid to halt non-essential travel.

Having endured decades of cuts, with competition from cheaper supermarkets almost wiping them out, surviving milkmen are now reporting unprecedented demand.

Patrick Muller, chief executive of Milk and More, said: “We have been at the heart of the communities in which we serve for decades, but potentially we have never had such an important role as we do now in this current health crisis.”

The business currently has 1,000 milkmen and women, delivering more than 100 million glass pint-bottles a year, using the latest electric floats.

Colin Henderson, from Chester-lestreet, Co Durham, who has been a milkman for 40 years, said: “The milk has gone berserk. I have got a pile of notes from customers and my round is taking an extra hour every day now. The dairy I work with said it is just manic. I just hope that after this is finished that people stay with us.”

Sales of computer monitors, keyboards, and devices such as mice and stylus pens, are soaring week on week as workers set up makeshift offices at home, according to data tracker GFK.