Some retailers had no supplies of newspapers

Newspaper publishers have been accused of failing to plan for the weekend’s bad weather which severely hit deliveries to retailers.

The Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN) has called for publishers and wholesalers to reassess their contingency plans, after newsagents up and down the country suffered more late deliveries on Saturday.

Despite early warnings of bad weather and the well-publicised shortage of drivers, news publishers still printed at their usual time, causing widespread delays of deliveries, while a number of newsagents received no deliveries at all.

The NFRN’s contact centre was inundated with complaints from members who were unable to get through to wholesalers’ helplines, with a 112% increase in calls compared to a normal Saturday.