UK: Amazon unveils one-hour delivery service in London

Six months after introducing its one-hour delivery service in the United States, Amazon has launched the service in some parts of London on 30 June.

A message on the Amazon UK website reads: "We now offer one-hour delivery or same-day, two-hour delivery windows on thousands of items in select areas of London!"

The service is offered exclusively for Amazon Prime members.

Deliveries are offered between 8am to midnight seven days a week.

One-hour deliveries on orders worth £20 ($31.50; €28) and above are charged at £6.99 with two-hour same-day window deliveries to be free, said Amazon.

The deliveries can also be ordered using the Amazon Prime Now app that can be downloaded on to smartphones.

The deliveries can further be tracked down using the app.

The postcodes covered so far include: "E1, E2, E3, E14, E1W, EC1A, EC1M, EC1N, EC1P, EC1R, EC1V, EC1Y, EC2A, EC2M, EC2N, EC2R, EC2V, EC2Y, EC3A, EC3M, EC3N, EC3R, EC3V, EC4A, EC4M, EC4N, EC4R, EC4V, EC4Y, SE1, SW1Y, W1B, W1C, W1D, W1F, W1G, W1H, W1J, W1K, W1S, W1T, W1U, W1W, WC1A, WC1B, WC1E, WC1H, WC1N, WC1R, WC1V, WC1X, WC2A, WC2B, WC2E, WC2H, WC2N, WC2R."

Earlier, news emerged that Amazon is testing its delivery drones in Canada after failing to secure approval in the US.

"We're limited there [US] to flying indoors and have been now for a very long time. So we do what's necessary – we go to places where we can test outside, in this case Canada," said Gur Kimchi, the head of Prime Air.

"You can build a very different world. It can be faster, and safer, and more economic and more environmentally friendly – all of those things, all at the same time."