Morrisons to break Sunday trading laws for NHS workers by opening at 9am
Supermarket giant Morrisons is to deliberately break the law by opening its stores for an extra hour on Sundays to support NHS workers during the corona crisis.
The retailer will open up at 9am this Sunday to allow NHS staff to have the store to themselves until 10am - what is usually reserved as 'the browsing hour' - after which other customers will be let in.
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Stores will still close, as normal, at 4pm. But this means they will be open for seven hours which is, strictly speaking, illegal.
Current Sunday trading laws which state supermarkets about 280 square metres must only remain open for any six hour period between 10am and 6pm.
The move to flout the law comes after the major supermarket chains lobbied parliament to temporarily extend the usual
Sunday rules while the crisis was on but this came to nothing and died down as stores realised they were running out of stock anyway.
Ironically this led to shorter rather than longer hours but now Morrisons, in particular, want to see the rules relaxed, insiders say.
Like others, Morrisons has replenished its shelves, introduced social distancing measures and the supply chain is working so it is testing the resolve of local councils who are responsible for enforcing the Sunday trading laws.
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Some authorities, including Conwy in Wales and Wakefield, have publicly stated they will not enforce current Sunday trading laws and sources from Morrisons say other councils have given off the record assurances that no action will be taken if Morrisons stays open an extra hour, particularly if it is to accommodate NHS workers.
A Morrisons spokesman said: "The NHS staff are doing a wonderful job in challenging circumstance. We are offering them an extra hour because they may have a very narrow window of time to do their shopping."
NHS staff also get 10 per cent off their bills and Morrisons also has a click and collect service at hospital car parks.
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