Law papers, hot meals for kids and vital hospice drugs – no rest for courier during lockdown

DAY 5 of the journal by our Covid Courier in Glasgow who is supporting the NHS through the Coronavirus crisis

The hybrid electric Mitsubishi vehicle driven in Glasgow by Eagle Couriers. The vehicle is normally used by veteran courier Alyson McKell

BY ALYSON McKELL

FOR SOME reason there seem to be more cars around today – both on the move and occupying parking spaces in the city centre. I have no idea why that should be.

Despite this, my day starts as it usually does, collecting documents and paperwork from DX Mail, the dedicated mail network used exclusively by legal firms.

After collecting the material, I then deliver it to a series of legal offices on Queen Street, Sauchiehall Street, Bothwell Street and Douglas Street. There seem to be more cars parked in the surrounding streets than there have been since lockdown started.

Next up is another regular, daily job, collecting more mail for legal firms, this time from a Royal Mail sorting office.

Each of the law firms has staff assigned to collect the deliveries from me. I have to explain to them that I’ve now been told the Royal Mail sorting office will be operating on reduced hours and will close on Wednesdays and Sundays.

My next job run is on the M8 from the city centre to Queenslie to visit the depot of a UK-wide overnight delivery network. This is another regular part of my working week. Despite the roads being slightly busier than they have been this week, I still see only a handful of other vehicles during the journey.

Normally that would bring me to the part of the day I call the food run – where I collect hot meals from production kitchens and deliver them to various primary schools which don’t have their own kitchen facilities.

Even during lockdown this has been continuing, for the small number of schools which remain open for the children of essential workers. However, even those schools are now officially closed for the Easter break.

Eagle Couriers works delivers to Glasgow , Royal Infirmary

Instead, my next job takes me to the Marie Curie Hospice at Stobhill Hospital, another of my most frequent stop off points, as part of Eagles Couriers’ work with the NHS.  I pick up packages which are then taken to the pharmacy at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. While there, I also check if there are any pick-ups to be taken back to the hospice.

My next NHS job is a trip to Sauchiehall Street to collect samples from Sandyford, the specialist sexual health service for Greater Glasgow and Clyde.  Those samples are then safely delivered to the Royal Infirmary’s biochemistry and virology labs.

After a stop for lunch, I’m soon back on the road this time for a series of short stop pick ups for deliveries which are due to go from Norse Road to Newton Stewart and from White Street to Dundee. In both cases my role is to get them from the pick up point to our base in Glasgow, where they will then be dispatched on the next leg of their journey.

There’s still time for one more run to the Marie Curie hospice at Stobhill.  Once again it is to pick up the latest set of samples destined for the labs at the Royal Infirmary. While at the hospital, I also check in at the stores and the pharmacy in case of any deliveries to be taken back to the hospice

What strikes me as noticeable is that hospital loading bays seem very busy today, with lots of different delivery companies involved. My guess is that they are delivering all sorts of items to help deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

My final job of the week is to drop off a series of packages at the Eagle Couriers base which will be passed on for overnight delivery to locations all over the country. Then I head home for a weekend of isolation and rest – and to get ready for next week’s adventures again in the world of Covid-19 .

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