Coronavirus: Grangemouth's Iceland and Kerse Cabs offering help to elderly

The store in La Porte Precinct says the move is to help older customers complete their weekly shop.

From 10am until midday on a Wednesday, it will be open to the elderly following the widespread panic buying sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

And local taxi firm, Kerse Cabs, has stepped in to support the move, offering elderly customers free transport to the store on a Wednesday morning so they can buy their groceries.

Tam Flynn, senior supervisor at Iceland, said: “We all know the way things are at the moment and it’s a difficult time.

“The store is stocked and clean each morning and we want to give the elderly and those with underlying health conditions a more accessible experience.

“I’m hoping our customers will give them some respect and allow them to come in and do their shopping.

“It’s a difficult period just now and Iceland are trying to do their bit by making the right choices for their customers and staff at this challenging time.”

Tam said the plan was for the store to be open to the elderly and vulnerable for its first two hours of opening every Wednesday “for the foreseeable future”.

Gordon Waddell, owner of Kerse Cabs, said: “We’re trying to keep our taxis as sterile as possible, wiping them down with antibacterial wipes and our drivers are regularly using hand sanitiser and washing their hands.

“So when Iceland said they were going to be opening up their stores for the elderly, we thought as we are trying to keep our cars as clean as we can, that we would offer OAPs a free taxi service to Iceland so they can get their shopping.

“It’s our way of doing our wee bit for the community.

“We’re only a small company, but we want to help the community where we can.

“Everyone should be trying to do their bit to come together.

“We’re going to be offering OAPs the free service to Iceland on a Wednesday until this is all over.

“Customers should give us a call to book a time for us to take them to Iceland.

“We’ll drop them off to do their shopping and then they can phone us once we’re done to come and pick them up and we’ll have a car there as soon as possible so they are not waiting around for too long.”

Tam added: “It’s fantastic that Kerse Cabs are offering this service and we’d like to thank them for getting involved and helping our customers.”

The local Iceland store is currently working to new opening hours of 10am to 6pm.