Panic buying in the UK

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UK snow: panic buying hits supermarkets as shelves stripped bare

Panic buyers stripped supermarkets shelves bare of essential items after weather warnings predicted a deluge of snow

the Telegraph,

18 January, 2013

Frantic scenes were reported across the West Country, Home Counties and south Wales, in what officials described as worse than peak Christmas shopping periods.

With much of Britain expecting to be brought to a standstill today by a 40–hour snowstorm, shelves were left completely empty and basic items disappeared amid fears families would be left snowed in.

Supermarkets reported a "frenzy" as people stampeded along the aisles, filling their trolleys with bread, milk, vegetables and other essentials, leaving stores "virtually empty".

Massive queues of traffic also built up as shoppers battled for space outside stores as parking spaces became a premium.

At a Tesco branch in Aberdare in South Wales on Thursday, hundreds of shoppers stocked up after the Met Office put out a rare red warning, meaning motorists should only travel if necessary.

Shopper Rhiannon Griffiths, 38, said: "It was a real scrum - people were grabbing loaves and milk and dashing to the tills.

"I managed to get two small loaves and some pitta breads - but that was all that was left."

The bakery at the Tesco store was working around the clock to meet the huge demand for bread.

Another customer Brenda O'Neil, 47, added: "A member of staff said there was more bread in the oven which would be it in 45 minutes.

"A lot of people were waiting - there was a big queue. I bet the supermarkets love a snow forecast, they make a fortune."

Other shops in the South Wales valleys said there had been a sudden rush on bread, milk and other essentials.

Helen Rogers wrote on Twitter: "At a Lidl's in Monmouth was manic, [with the] car park overflowing. Bonkers as it was before the red snow warning."

At a Tesco superstore in Newbury, Berkshire, workers described the scenes as chaotic.

"It's gone absolutely crazy - it's almost a sort of mass hysteria," one worker, who declined to be named, said.

"People are rushing in and blindly grabbing what they can see, frightened there will be nothing left.

"The shelves are emptying as fast as we can fill them - they're after bread, milk, diary produce, fruit, vegetables and lots of people seem to be stocking up the tinned stuff like soup."

She added: "It's snowing outside and the car park is jam packed with hardly any spaces left, there are so many people flooding in here. I'd say tonight we are even busier than we were just before Christmas and that was bad enough.

"One woman told me that all the TV forecasters and newspapers are predicting the country will be under a foot of snow and all the roads will be blocked by tomorrow.

"She said she decided to rush in and do a massive shop because all her friends were doing it, and if she put it off, there would be nothing left and she wouldn't be able to get here anyway through all the snow."

Shoppers in Chippenham, Wiltshire, also reported "panic buying" at a local Sainsburys, which they said became "virtually empty" with similar scenes in Tetbury, Glos.

Forecasters have warned of major travel disruption, threats to power supplies and fears for the elderly as they predicted falls of up to 12in in some areas today and tomorrow.

Higher ground will see the worst, especially in Wales and the west of England, but up to 4in will fall in other areas. Winds up to 25mph will also cause drifting, forecasters said.

A red weather warning has been issued in South Wales, where up to 12in of snow and 30mph winds are forecast.

Thousands of people were advised not to leave their homes, with the dangers so severe that even the fit and healthy are at risk.