Sainsbury staff are forced to barricade the entire aisle by panicked buyers to replenish the toilet roll – The Sun

SUPERMARKET staff had to barricade an entire corridor from buyers so they could replenish the toilet roll without being overrun by frantic panic buyers.

The corridor for cleaning products and toilet paper in Grimsby’s Sainsbury shop had to be closed to shoppers to give staff the opportunity to stock shelves.

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But after pulling out two and a half carts of toilet paper, they removed the metal barricades, with the aisle swiftly flooding customers to grab them.

Toilet paper is currently limited to two per person in Sainsbury’s, but that hasn’t stopped customers from grabbing large multiple packs while they could.

“It’s actually a little crazy – they shouldn’t be doing it for the toilet roll,” said one confused customer.

“I can’t believe it got so bad: I just needed a package because I was running out.”

Another buyer smoked: “I’ve tried to find a roll of paper everywhere and it’s always been out of stock.

“Fortunately I timed it in the right way and managed to get here for when they are putting it in stock.”

It’s really a little crazy, they shouldn’t do it for the toilet roll

buyer

Supermarkets in north east Lincolnshire have struggled to manage the demand for panic buying from coronavirus.

The Asda store in Grimsby had to put a security guard on the door due to over 100 customers lining up outside waiting for the doors to open at 6am.

They were forced to keep a door closed while security asked shoppers to “travel at safe speed” upon entering the store.

Large queues had already started outside the shop at 5.30 in the morning, with the parking practically full at 6.10.

“I just want to buy butter and milk for my elderly mom as she was about to run out,” said another buyer.

“It’s ridiculous that supermarkets aren’t doing more to allow us to shop for relatives who can’t go out and shop.”

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In Iceland on Bethlehem Street there were similar scenes, with a row of over 100 people at 9 am before the opening.

A buyer in Iceland said: “I have not experienced the Second World War, but I bet it has never been like this”.

While, at Tesco Extra in Cleethorpes, the shelves were stripped by customers, with a worker who claimed that both of their deliveries had been exhausted that day.

Fresh food, meat, bread, eggs and canned food were all eliminated in a few hours on Thursday morning as people filled the carts due to the coronavirus epidemic.

A buyer said, “The staff aren’t even stocking the shelves right now, so anyone who finishes working later today will enter an empty store.”

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Stores up and down the country have reduced the amount of products people can buy, as well as offering priority delivery slots and special opening hours for its senior customers.

The supermarket delivery drivers were also named “key workers” by the government while announcing the complete closure of schools across the UK.

This means that if they have children, they will still have to go to school to make sure parents can work.

Currently, there are no confirmed cases of the disease in north east Lincolnshire at the moment, but those with symptoms have been advised to self-isolate themselves, rather than visiting a hospital for testing.

Nonetheless, government councils expect people to follow social distancing, which aims to reduce the amount of close contacts that people have with each other.

This includes avoiding places like pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinemas and theaters and working from home whenever possible.

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