Costcutter retailers are crying foul over delayed Nisa deliveries at the peak of summer, as the Scunthorpe-based distributor hit record volumes twice in recent months.

One retailer told C-Store: “Our Friday delivery didn’t turn up until Monday. It was a huge problem as we had no soft drinks in the heat.”

Nisa distribution director Jonathan Stowe admitted that some members experienced delays in what turned out to be record weeks for the company. He said: “Due to a number of weeks of exceptional weather during July, Nisa achieved some of its highest volume figures through its Central Distribution Services, peaking at 2.63 million cases a week - a 35% increase in ambient orders.

“Although the team worked tirelessly to keep up with demand, some disruption in the delivery service was experienced.”

Nisa beat its weekly case record again this month, hitting more than 2.8 million cases delivered during one week. This represents more than £33m in value terms and puts the retail group 5.2% up on its sales budget.