Britain’s attempt to return to work on Tuesday was thwarted by Covid chaos that blighted the railways, with offices remaining ghost towns.
Bin collections were seriously hampered, while the boss of one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains demanded a cut to the isolation period to five days, in line with the US and France, to reduce staff absences.
Around one in 10 railway staff were reported absent on the first day back to work after the Christmas and New Year break. One train company said it was reducing its timetable because of a lack of demand as well as the number of Covid cases among employees.
It is estimated that one million people are currently self-isolating after testing positive. Richard Walker, the boss of the Iceland supermarket chain, said it “would be very helpful to business” to reduce isolation after absences soared by 70 per cent to 1,700 – about 11 per cent of full time staff. Store closures are expected as a consequence.
Mr Walker said: “We need to abolish self-isolation. I am not a medical expert and maybe we need to taper it down to five days, but we have to learn to live with Covid and get off this isolation regime. He warned that virus cases among the workforce were rising “exponentially”.
Disruption on major commuter lines
For commuters across the country, the planned return to work was hampered as thousands of rail staff did not return to work. Around 10 per cent of rail staff were absent on average across the industry on Tuesday – an estimated 6,000 people including crew and drivers, according to the Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators.
It meant major commuter lines into London, including Southeastern and Thameslink, along with Southern, which has cancelled journeys into Victoria for a fortnight, faced significant disruption. Rail operators serving the north of England and the Midlands, including CrossCountry, London North East Railway and Transpennine Express, were similarly impacted.
The Gatwick Express has been cancelled “until further notice”, while the concourses at London’s Victoria and Waterloo stations in London were almost deserted, even at rush hour.
