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The death of a young woman has sparked debate over the access afforded by instant delivery services.
For people with alcohol dependency, food delivery platforms have transformed drinking into a private and frictionless ritual. The limits imposed on physical retails, such as opening hours and – in some cases – units per spend, are bypassed on apps like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. They also make access to alcohol almost instant.
This loophole is now being questioned following the death of 35-year-old Zoe Hughes, who struggled with alcoholism. Her family have started a petition calling for restrictions on delivery apps after Zoe used them to spend between £1000 and £1500 a month on alcohol.
Zoe’s sister, Alex, has said it ‘came as a shock’ when the family discovered her drinking problem. She was ‘full of life’ and ‘lived and breathed for her children,’ but as her alcohol dependency worsened, she utilised online services to drink in secret.
‘At first she was living with my parents who are in a rural part of Lincolnshire, so she had to walk to the shops to get a drink,’ Alex told the BBC.
‘But when she moved into her own place in a more urban area it spiralled.’
While apps like Deliveroo currently operate within the law, there are no restrictions on when you can order alcohol or how much you can order per day. In some cases, Zoe was using online services to obtain alcohol as early as six in the morning.
‘All she had to do was go on her phone, click a few buttons and it would be delivered in as quick as 20 minutes.’
Alex and the rest of Zoe’s family want the government to introduce safeguards to help vulnerable people.
‘There needs to be a cap so you can only order so much in a 24-hour period and also a time stop.’
Betting companies now operate self-exclusion registers, affordability checks, mandatory intervention tools and advertising restrictions. Meanwhile someone can still order bottles of vodka to their home at six in the morning with little more than a tap.
And while strict licensing rules are in place for physical retailers, the lines are more blurry when it comes to the sale of alcohol online.
For instance, while the Licensing Act 2003 made it an offence to sell alcohol to someone who is already drunk, instant delivery apps and couriers have no way of knowing what state consumers are in when they make a purchase.
Zoe’s story has encouraged other recovering alcoholics to share their stories, like Hattie Underwood, a 35-year-old who currently helps others with their sobriety.
Hattie also used delivery apps when struggling with alcohol dependency, saying that they ‘psychologically took all the barriers out of the way.’
