10 May 2020

Retailers have been left in the dark about exactly when they can reopen showrooms following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement for a route out of lockdown on Sunday evening.

The PM said he will give more details in Parliament today (Monday 11 May).

Calling it a “change of emphasis” that is active from this week, Mr Johnson said those who can work from home should continue to do so – “but you should go to work if you can’t work from home”.

Mr Johnson added workers should, if possible, commute by car, which could lead to a spike in service work from employees whose cars have been left unattended for the past few months.

The second phase will come on June 1 “at the earliest”, when shops will be allowed a phased reopening. Step 3, from July 1, is a phased reopening for the hospitality industry.

One senior auto retail executive has already told Auto Retail Agenda they are not sure if showrooms are part of stage one or two, although they expect to find out full details on Monday.

Auto Retail Live is hosting a special broadcast on Tuesday, 12 May to help explain the upcoming plans. On the webinar will be Vertu’s Robert Forrester, employment lawyer Sandra Martins, Catherine Faiers from Auto Trader and Jeremy Evans from Marketing Delivery. Sign-up to watch and ask the panel questions here.

Tags: Boris Johnson, Covid-19