Signs of a return to panic buying with empty toilet shelves in North East supermarket

A shopper at one North East Asda took this picture of empty toilet roll shelves on Wednesday (September 23).

It came after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a series of tougher new nationwide restrictions to tackle the large increase in cases of coronavirus and warned: “Unless we take action the risk is that we will have to go for tougher measures later.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also warned of a second national lockdown if the new restrictions are flouted.

Similar scenes of stockpiling, familiar to March and early April, have been seen at supermarkets around the country.

But Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi told the Press Association (PA) they have not experienced any shortages yet.

And the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged consumers to be considerate of others and shop as normal saying supply chains are ‘stronger than ever’.

Director of food and sustainability at the BRC, Andrew Opie, said: “Supply chains are stronger than ever before and we do not anticipate any issues in the availability of food or other goods under a future lockdown.

“Nonetheless, we urge consumers to be considerate of others and shop as they normally would.”

He added measures introduced by shops including perspex screens means they are safe for consumers, even under future lockdowns.

Asda has said it will introduce 1,000 new Covid-19 marshals on the doors of its supermarkets to ensure customers wear masks properly.

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