DON’T PANIC!
As country counts cost of Siberian storm, shoppers clear supermarket shelves of essentials and Government pleads:
SHOPPERS were last night warned against panic buying as supermarkets began to run low on essential products such as bread and milk during Scotland’s big freeze. Snow-blocked roads have prevented HGVs from making deliveries, while people are swarming stores to stockpile food and drinks.
Some retailers have been forced to ration staples such as milk to stop bulk-buyers from stripping shelves and sending fellow Scots home hungry.
Last night, Deputy First Minister John Swinney begged shoppers – many of whom have been off work for three days – to be ‘sensible’ when getting supplies.
He said: ‘Shop deliveries in some local areas may be affected in the short term, so I would also ask that people are patient and sensible when purchasing food or fuel as the situation gradually returns to normal.’
Fresh foods were the worst hit over the first two days of the deep freeze.
By yesterday morning shoppers were struggling to locate essentials such as bread, milk
and eggs. And as the day wore on other items began to run out, including fruit and vegetables and ready meals.
In Peebles, both Tesco and Sainsbury’s were out of bread and milk and short of fresh fruit and vegetables.
But Sainsbury’s yesterday assured customers that there were no supply issues.
A spokesman said: ‘Supply is good and essentials like bread and milk are still available – we have been closely monitoring the weather and adjusting stock levels accordingly.’
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘Our distribution teams have been working hard to get deliveries into stores, although clearly the adverse conditions haven’t helped. We are monitoring the situation closely.’
Since the storm started, staff at Edinburgh’s Asda Supercentre stopped customers from bulk-buying bread and milk in case they intended to sell the items on at a profit.
One shopper posted a picture online of a haul of loaves that some fellow customers were banned from buying.
Lindsay Barlas, from Portobello, wrote: ‘There’s some bread back on Asda shelves again when staff refused to allow two guys to buy all this plus the bread in their trolley.
‘Well done to the staff members who not only refused to sell it all but carried arms full of bread back to the shelves for people’s own personal consumption not to re-sell it and make a profit. It was very satisfying to watch.’
Speaking to the Mail yesterday, she said: ‘I didn’t hear the conversation the staff had with the guys, I just saw them removing all the bread from the conveyor belt as the guys also had loads in their trolley.’
Other customers at the same shop described how milk had been limited to three cartons per person.
Suzanne Lamont said: ‘Two guys had a trolley full of milk. A member of staff told them three each and took the rest away.’
It is understood that Asda staff intervened after discovering the men were buying supplies to stock their own shop.
An Asda spokesman said: ‘Despite the weather creating some pretty difficult conditions, our colleagues are working hard to get deliveries through
Wholemeal loaf for sale online for £1.2m
and keep our shelves stocked for our customers.’
McColl’s in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, was also rationing goods, according to shopper Ross Timson.
He said: ‘I went for milk and there was no semi-skimmed milk at all.
‘I overheard the shop worker at the till saying they had been busy all morning for bread and milk and that it was one per person.’
Shops across the country were closing last night after a day of scant deliveries and dwindling supplies.
One shop worker in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, said: ‘We have no milk and bread is very limited. We have no papers and no produce.
‘There’s a few vegetables, some potatoes. Bits and pieces. We didn’t get any fresh deliveries. No milk deliveries. There’s no rationing, we just didn’t get any deliveries.’
Another store employee said their first deliveries had made it through and staff were rushing to stock shelves to meet customer demand.
But receiving supplies did not mean an end to the panic shopping.
In Aberdeen city centre a Co-op ran out of bread after only one hour.
In Tranent, East Lothian, Aldi was out of bread by 11am yesterday – three hours after opening.
Shoppers were also bulk-buying milk at Asda in Straiton, Midlothian.
One customer condemned those stripping stores of bread and milk, noting that Edinburgh Royal Infirmary had ‘not a single loaf of bread’ and that milk supplies were ‘low’.
It is believed delivery vehicles are still struggling to reach the hospital while staff were yesterday being fer- ried to and from work by members of the armed forces.
Elsewhere, good Samaritans offered to ferry supplies of bread and milk to those in need, while others shared tips online about where the last essentials were being sold.
Smaller bakeries and restaurants seemed to be thriving in the storm conditions, which have crippled supermarket supply chains.
In other areas of the UK – which have also been suffering the impact of Storm Emma – shoppers were queu-
ing for up to an hour to stock up. However, some saw the funny side of the shortages, with a resident of Edinburgh’s upmarket Morningside jokingly trying to sell a loaf for £1,234,567 on the Gumtree website.
They wrote: ‘Very rare commodity in Scotland as of the last 48 hrs, may even become a future classic!
‘As you can see the loaf is in excellent condition with no rips or tears or stretch marks on the packaging. It’s a genuine Lidl’s wholemeal loaf, which was baked in the UK.’