PANIC-BUYING PASTA AND TOILET ROLLS RETURNS

LOCKDOWN FEAR SPARKS ANGST IN THE AISLES

PANIC buyers may be making a comeback to supermarkets as the threat of a second coronavirus lockdown looms.

Shelves in several shops in North East Lincolnshire are starting to look empty once again in an eerie reminder of the days before lockdown was implemented in March. Looking around Tesco and Asda stores in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, shelves which would normally have essentials such as toilet paper and pasta are looking empty or heavily depleted. They were some of the first products targeted by panic buyers at the start of the pandemic, with toilet paper in particular quickly flying off shelves as supermarkets struggled to handle the demand. Supermarket bosses are having to warn shoppers not to panic buy, with stores rapidly increasing delivery capacity and introducing new measures to keep the nation fed. Andrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, told the Mirror: “Retailers have done an excellent job in ensuring customers have access to the food and necessities throughout this pandemic. “Supermarkets have put in place a range of safety measures to protect staff and customers.

“In the event of future lockdowns we urge consumers to be considerate and shop for food as they would usually during this difficult time.” On Monday, the UK’s top scientists announced there may be up to 50,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day by mid-October if the second wave is not handled soon. Read more on that here.

The stark warning from Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has led to fears of a second lockdown. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday outlining the “next steps” to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases across the UK.

Earlier this year, supermarkets were forced to put strict rules in place to ensure there were enough food and essentials to go around. Most of those rules have since been relaxed. In both the Grimsby branch of Asda and Cleethorpes’ Tesco Extra there was plenty of food available on Monday, but there were the telltale signs of people beginning to panic buy.

In Tesco Extra, there were some empty shelves where bulk-buy toilet paper would be, as well empty boxes of bleach on the cleaning aisle nearby. For food, tinned items were plentiful but there were some empty spaces in the pasta section. Over in Asda, there seemed to be more evidence of panic buying. For toilet paper, there were a lot of empty spaces where people have bought a lot of the bulk items, with some spaces where smaller packs are, too.

A similar picture was found in the cleaning product aisle, with entire shelves empty where Asda’s ownbrand bleach would be, as well as spaces where people have been buying Domestos and other brands. In the pasta aisle, there is still enough stock to go around, but shoppers have all but emptied some of the large boxes.

Tinned items have also been heavily affected. Baked beans, another one of the many items that were bulk-bought earlier this year, was quite heavily hit.

One shopper said: “People have definitely started to panic buy again. It’s ridiculous.

“The only reason why we had these issues last time is because people were buying too much for themselves and not leaving enough for the rest of us.

“If we just get our heads together and buy only what we need, we won’t have to worry about it, no matter whether we have a second lockdown or not.”