John Lewis suspends click and collect to ‘enhance Covid security’ and discourage non-essential travel

The company says it is responding to a ‘change of tone’ from the government

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John Lewis has suspended its click and collect service to discourage "non essential" travel during the national lockdown.

The company's operations director said the decision came after a "change in tone" from the government in recent days.

“We are acutely aware that the country is at a critical point in the pandemic and are constantly thinking about how best the Partnership and our Partners can play our part in limiting the spread and impact of the virus,” Andrew Murphy said in a statement.

“We’ve listened carefully to the clear change in tone and emphasis of the views and information shared by the UK’s governments in recent days. While we recognise that the detail of formal guidance has not changed, we feel it is right for us - and in the best interests of our Partners and customers - to take proactive steps to further enhance our covid-security and related operational policies.”

Click and collect was suspended on new orders from the end of Tuesday 12 January.

Government guidance states that non-essential shops can continue offering a click and collect service - which is defined in the rules as "where goods are pre-ordered and collected without entering the premises". 

Waitrose, which is also owned by the John Lewis Partnership, will now also make face-coverings mandatory in its stores. 

The company said that marshals will be positioned at the entrance of stores this week, offering disposable masks to those who don't have one, and denying entry to anyone refusing to wear a mask (unless they are medically exempt or too young). 

In Northern Ireland, under-13s do not have to wear a mask, while in England and Wales children under 11 are exempt and, in Scotland, under-fives are not required to wear one. 

Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Aldi, and Morrisons have also toughened up their rules on mask-wearing. 

Enforcing mask-wearing is officially a police responsibility but supermarkets can deny shoppers entry, and are allowed to call police if a customer refuses to follow the rules or is abusive to a member of staff.