The gas leak that caused Smiths News’ (SN) Oxford depot to close for four months has reoccurred with severe impacts on delivery times.
The depot serves more than 400 stores and was previously closed due to a gas leak in December 2022. On 2 November, SN reported the leak had reoccurred. Last time, deliveries were moved to SN’s Reading depot, but the depot closed over the summer, creating more challenges this time around.
SN told Better Retailing operations had been moved to Slough “within four hours” of finding the leak, adding: “Our teams are working around the clock to ensure smooth distribution to stores, and our communication channels have been established to keep our customers informed of any potential delays.”
Publishers have been asked to make deliveries to depot earlier to compensate for the longer journeys. However, deliveries to stores are expected to be late until the leak is fixed. SN told Better Retailing it was “hopeful” the issue would be resolved “in the near future”.
Jas Bhatia, who runs Friends Food & Wine in Aylesbury, Bucks, said his deliveries were arriving up to an hour late. He added: “I was lucky not to be badly affected last time, but this week, the best I’ve had is half an hour late.”
SN said the Reading depot closure had “further emphasised the significance of our contingency plans” and that Smiths has “developed long-term contingency plans to ensure service continuity in the event of an extended Oxford closure”.
The leak has since been contained to a small area and operations in the site are returned to normal.
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