Deliveroo to offer ‘no-contact’ delivery during coronavirus pandemic

The contactless deliveries will start next week
Getty Images

London-based food delivery service Deliveroo has announced it will launch a ‘no-contact’ drop-off service early next week.

This is a direct response to coronavirus, the respiratory disease that has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. There are currently 596 confirmed cases in the UK and ten deaths.

As the UK moves into the ‘delay phase’ - which will see more people social distancing with more people working from home and less people eating out - Deliveroo is taking measures to ensure they can deliver food to your door without you physically contacting the driver.

Deliveroo said in a statement: “At Deliveroo we are taking action to keep our customers, riders and restaurants safe. To make our delivery service even safer we are introducing a no-contact, drop-off service.”

Customers not wanting to make physical contact with the drivers at the moment can add a note to their order to request a drop-off.

Deliveroo told Tech Crunch it has plans in place for how to respond should a driver be diagnosed with Covid-19, and it has funds in place to pay driver’s statutory sick pay for 14 days should they be infected.

Hand sanitisers for drivers and dedicated support teams have also been arranged.

Uber Eats has confirmed it will also compensate riders and drivers who have to quarantine for up to 14 days. The app is working on a new no-contact feature which will be ready in the coming weeks. Currently, Uber Eats users can leave notes such as 'leave in lobby' or 'leave at door.'

A spokeswoman told the Standard: “Safety is essential to Uber and it’s at the heart of everything we do. In response to the ongoing spread of coronavirus, we’ve reminded Uber Eats users that they can request deliveries be left on their doorsteps. We’re simultaneously at work on new product features to make this process even smoother, which we hope will be helpful to everyone on the platform in the coming weeks.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in