A GALASHIELS milk depot has hired more drivers due to a surge in demand during lockdown.

McQueens Dairies, whose Netherdale site opened last year, has seen an increase in orders since March 23.

The company has now employed 10 additional delivery drivers working from Galashiels.

McQueens Dairies marketing manager Pauline Quigley said: “We’ve seen a surge in new customers over this time, all the people wanting contact-free deliveries.

“At one point we had 4,000 new customers in a day, when it reached its peak.

“We’ve taken on about 40 new staff throughout the company to cope with the extra demand. They are both delivery staff and people working in the dairy.

“The main challenge we faced was the number of drivers who were having to self-isolate, so we were down in staff but up in orders. So we’ve had to get staff back.

“We couldn’t train new drivers, obviously, because of having to be two metres apart, so that was a challenge as well.

"We couldn’t hire new people who hadn’t done the job before – we managed to get people back who’d left years ago, but needed a job because they’d lost their current job.

“So it was mostly ex-employees we re-recruited.

“Though we’ve had the big surge in new customers, we hope they’ll stay after the crisis is over; that they’ll want to continue to use us, not just during the coronavirus.”