Online supermarket Ocado has banned sales of bottled water to help free up more space for home deliveries during the coronavirus crisis.
The grocer said it's banned the essential item as more supermarkets look to introduce extreme measures to manage online capacity,
It comes after Asda told the Mirror it's added 400,000 new online delivery slots to cope with demand, while Tesco is now at 760,000 a week.
"During the Coronavirus pandemic, we've stopped selling bulky, heavy bottled water. This small step frees up extra space in our vans, and allows us to deliver to 6,000 extra homes a week," the supermarket said.
The online grocer is also no longer accepting new customers due to unprecedented demand over the past fortnight.
"No matter how hard we work, we simply do not have the capacity right now to meet all the demand we are seeing from existing customers, let alone new ones. We’re sorry to disappoint anybody that chooses Ocado and we look forward to welcoming these new customers in the future when we have capacity to serve them," the company explains on its website.
Since the start of the outbreak, Ocado said almost every single one of its 800,000 active customers has gone on to make weekly orders.
"At the same time, with families at home all week, the average size of orders has nearly doubled meaning fewer orders can be picked and transported," it said.
For all remaining Ocado customers, the supermarket will be releasing new slots for next-day delivery from 9pm on Saturday 4 April.
Priority access is being given to those on the Government’s shield list of extremely vulnerable people and who are in need of support getting essential food supplies.
