A supermarket delivery driver has been awarded a British Empire Medal for doing his customers’ shopping for them during the pandemic.

Geoffrey Norris, 53, from Wisbech, has delivered groceries for Asda customers for five years.

Since lockdown, he has looked after vulnerable and elderly customers by doing their shopping for them on his days off and delivering it in his own car.

Mr Norris said he was “gobsmacked” when he heard he had been nominated for the honour.

“When it came through I thought it was a joke,” he said. “You could have knocked me down with a feather. It’s been surreal.”

Mr Norris sought volunteers from among his colleagues at the Wisbech store to help out in their own time to deliver food to those who were self-isolating and vulnerable.

He took orders by e-mail and phone with the help of his wife or daughter, or if customers contacted the store directly colleagues passed on the order to Mr Norris.

Some of the people who contacted him lived many miles away but were calling, panicked about how to get food for vulnerable parents who had no internet.