NHS staff get Aldi priority access as Lidl donate food

All NHS, police and fire service workers have been given priority access to Aldi stores around the clock, the supermarket has announced.

And Lidl will donate thousands of fresh fruit and vegetable bags to NHS staff.

All emergency service workers will have priority access to Aldi stores from Saturday.

It means where shop workers are limiting the number of customers, any emergency worker with a relevant form of ID will be allowed to enter as soon as social distancing guidelines permit.

Earlier this week, Aldi announced that it would be opening half an hour early on Sunday morning solely for key workers as a thank you to NHS staff, Police and the Fire Service.

In an initiative run in partnership with the Royal Voluntary Service, the fruit and veg bags from Lidl will be distributed to frontline NHS staff at hospital sites across the country over the weekend.

Christian Härtnagel, CEO at Lidl GB, said: “We are so grateful to the NHS and all of its staff for their hard work every day to help keep the nation safe.

“This is our small gesture to say thank you, and help provide NHS staff, who may not be able to get into store regularly for basic groceries, with fresh fruit and vegetables.

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“We hope that through working with Royal Voluntary service to donate these bags to hospitals, we can help make a difference to their daily life.”

The news follows Lidl’s recent announcement that it will be rolling out its customer food donation boxes in stores nationwide, as part of its Feed it Back scheme, and donating £100,000 to its partnership with Neighbourly, to help vulnerable people and children.

Meanwhile other supermarkets have been bringing in a range of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic and support staff.

Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Iceland all announced priority access for NHS staff earlier in the week.

And Morrisons installed new protective screens at all store checkouts.