Tesco to hire 3,000 drivers as online grocery shopping surge continues

Tesco is looking to hire 3,000 drivers to help meet the growing trend for online food shopping triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

The move is part of a wider recruitment drive to hire 16,000 staff to help with the supermarket giant's online growth plans.

Since the pandemic lockdown, Tesco has seen online sales leap from around 9% to 16% of total sales.

Tesco is now serving 1.5m customers a week online, up from around 600,000 at the start of the outbreak. It predicts the sector will be worth over £5.5bn this year, up from £3.3bn last year.

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The majority of the 16,000 roles are expected to be filled by staff who joined on a temporary basis at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and who now want to stay with the business permanently.

The roles will include 10,000 pickers to assemble customer orders and 3,000 drivers to deliver them, along with a variety of other roles in stores and distribution centres.

According to market researcher Kantar Online, food shopping surged during the pandemic, but slowed down in the 12 weeks ended 9 August as shopping habits eased back towards normality after months of lockdown.

Jason Tarry, Tesco's UK and Ireland chief executive, said: "These new roles will help us continue to meet online demand for the long term, and will create permanent employment opportunities for 16,000 people across the UK."