Alcohol ‘damage’ risk from Amazon Newcastle delivery service

Source: BBC News

19 November 2015

The online retailer Amazon has been criticised for offering one-hour delivery of alcohol as part of a new service in the north-east of England.

Prime Now offers a selection of items including snacks, drinks, gifts, nappies, pizzas, milk and alcohol.

Alcohol awareness group Balance said the service would increase access to a product “already causing great damage”.

Amazon said it would be issuing a statement in response to the criticism.

The firm’s license conditions say deliveries cannot be dispatched between midnight and 05:00 and recipients must have proof of age.

Expansion plans

Balance director Colin Shevills said “making alcohol easier to get hold of has a direct impact on consumption, encouraging people to drink more”.

“In the North East we already suffer from some of the worst levels of alcohol harm in the country,” he said.

“A doorstep delivery service can only add to the problem.”

The service was launched in London and Birmingham in the summer but has now expanded to cover Newcastle, Gateshead and parts of Durham and Sunderland.

Amazon’s “ambition” was to roll it out elsewhere in the UK, but where and when had not been decided, it said.

Deliveries will be made from its distribution centre in Gateshead, leading to new jobs, it added.

Users must have Prime membership, which costs £79 a year, and deliveries within an hour will cost £6.99 extra, with a minimum spend of £20.