Tesco cancels thousands of home delivery orders after 'complete system failure'

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Tesco has cancelled thousands of customers’ home deliveries after a “complete system failure”, which began on Tuesday.

After customers complained on social media, the UK’s biggest supermarket chain said it was “working hard” to fix the computer glitch .

A Tesco spokesperson said up to 10 per cent of customers could have been affected, and he apologised for any inconvenience.

Customers were left angry after deliveries expected on Tuesday morning failed to turn up, with little explanation or alternative delivery times provided.

Some angry customers took to social media, with one writing: “What do we do about no grocery deliveries today? How do we get a reschedule? My numbers not on system and had no email #nofoodforus.”

Another said: “Just had a call to say all Tesco home deliveries have been cancelled today because of a national system failure.”

Tesco responded on Twitter, saying: “We experienced an unforeseen technical fault which resulted in the forced cancellation of many orders due to a complete system failure.”

Tesco later added: “We're currently experiencing an IT issue which is affecting some Grocery Home Shopping orders.

”We're working hard to fix this problem and apologise to customers for any inconvenience this may cause."

Jason Shorrock, vice president at supply chain specialists, JDA said Tesco's problem was not an isolted one. “Research has shown that issues with online orders are on the increase, with more than half of UK shoppers experiencing a problem with an online order in the last 12 months," he said.

"Today’s shoppers expect retailers to offer a high-level of service across all channels – those retailers that fail to keep up put themselves in serious danger of being left behind.”