Over the weekend, British supermarkets faced an influx of shoppers who left empty shelves. One in six Britons said they “can’t buy basic food” and one in three has already started buying Christmas supplies ahead of the expected winter deficit. The photos in the media show empty sections of some British supermarkets, which have already run out of meat, fruit and frozen foods, writes the British tabloid Daily Mail.
On Saturday morning, store shelves in the UK were empty, and millions of shoppers said they could not buy basic foodstuffs for the past two weeks as the crisis in the UK supply system continued.
According to the Daily Mail, meat products, fruit and frozen goods were sold out, and buyers stock up on toilet paper and bottled water on the eve of the holidays.
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that about one in six Britons has not been able to buy basic necessities in the last two weeks, which is the latest sign of panic shopping in the UK.
A survey of 1,000 consumers by The Grocer found that two-thirds of shoppers were worried or “very worried” about a possible shortage of food and drink before Christmas.
To be guaranteed a Christmas dinner on December 25, hundreds of thousands of customers have already ordered Christmas delivery, and every third customer has already started stocking up on groceries.
Senior British officials have said they are considering hiring soldiers as truck drivers before Christmas to prevent food shortages, while Britain is experiencing a series of crises with chaotic jumps in petrol prices and a lack of trucks, Focus reports.
Amid fears of food shortages in the coming months and panic shopping that has devastated supermarket shelves, one in six adults has been unable to buy basic food for the past two weeks. According to the Office for National Statistics, about 17% of adults said they could not purchase such goods due to their absence. Nearly a quarter of adults said the same about non-essential foods. The Office for National Statistics came to this conclusion after analyzing the responses of 3,326 adults received from September 22 to October 3 during the “Thoughts and Lifestyle” survey. Moreover, 57% of people said that everything they need can still be bought.
One in seven people in the UK cannot buy fuel, as fears of a shortage of petrol and difficulties in hiring fuel truck drivers have left motorists queuing for hours at petrol stations, which are closed due to a lack of supplies.