MailOnline readers have been sharing their pictures of empty shelves across the country as shoppers continued to ignore Government advice not to panic buy.
Stockpiling of household goods means that many aisles in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Lidl and Aldi up and down the UK are looking increasingly desolate.
Sections for hand soap and disinfectant, nappies and baby wipes as well as dried goods such as pasta and rice appear to be the most decimated.
Britain’s supermarkets have also been accused of setting up ‘doomsday’ displays in stores and online aimed at worried stockpiling ‘survivalist’ shoppers.
All the best selling suggested items on Amazon’s Fresh website in grocery and beauty all appear to similar items being bought in bulk across the UK.
And one customer at the Sainsbury’s store in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, photographed the display close to the checkout – containing toilet rolls, crisps, bottled water, and pasta as well as ‘mega packs’ of detergents, dishwasher tablets and disinfectant.
James Woolnough told MailOnline: ‘I’ve been watching the show Doomsday Preppers on Netflix and these are some of the essential items survivalists recommend’.
Harrogate, North Yorkshire: This is the empty handsoap section in the historic town’s Morrisons
Govan, Glasgow: The fruit and veg section and the bakery section of this Scottish Asda store was bare last night
Osterley, west London: There is barely a bottle of handsoap in this branch of Tesco
Pimlico, London: There was not a single bag of pasta available in this Sainsbury’s store last night
Cribbs Causeway, Bristol: This Asda has also run out of pasta and there are only a few packs of rice
The Amazon Fresh grocery website’s suggested best sellers are nearly all linked to stockpiling
Sainsbury’s claim the display has been there for a year and a spokesman denied it was deliberate – but Mr Woolnough said: ‘We haven’t noticed it in the past, but have only been buying in bulk over the last few weeks. The items in the area seem very specific to those that are recommended in these situations. Perhaps they have adapted the area to include such items’.
The shelves of British supermarkets are emptying at pace as coronavirus stockpiling spiralled out of control amid warnings of ‘food riots’ if the crisis worsens – despite warnings from the Government not to panic buy.
Shortages previously limited to anti-bacterial hand gel and hand soap have spread to cupboard items such as rice, pasta, couscous, Pot Noodles, bottled water, toilet roll and pet food – as well as chilled items including milk, butter and yoghurt.
Pharmacy shelves are also emptying of paracetamol, ibuprofen and immune-system boosting tablets such as Berocca as people prepare to fight off the flu-like illness that has claimed hundreds of lives worldwide.
Facebook and Twitter is packed with photographs of empty shelves from major supermarkets across the UK where shoppers appear to have thrown empty boxes into the aisles in the mad scramble for items.
MailOnline readers have also shared pictures of their well-stocked larders as people prepare for weeks in isolation.
One reader said: ‘I have been trying for THREE days to buy pasta but I cannot see any as most shops have run out of pasta and pasta sauce’.
The scramble for food has also revealed what Britons do not consider essentials despite a China-style shutdown of communities predicted – including some flavours of crisps and confectionary including Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
Londoner Jasia Warren tweeted: ‘Interesting to see what people are stockpiling in my local supermarket. Bare shelves for rice, pasta, handwash, tissues and loo roll. Also interesting to see what people are not stockpiling: polenta, crumpets and get well cards. Their loss is my gain. #stockpiling’.
A Sainsbury’s shopper in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, has spotted this display containing items Britons have been stockpiling in case there is a China-style shutdown over coronavirus
One committed MailOnline reader has built up 3 months worth of food and water for his family of four
Kirsty Mildrew spent £40 on small bottles of anti-bacterial hand gel in Aldi and Lidl and admitted: ‘I was like a mad woman stock pilling – I’m keeping it all for myself and my family’
Shelves in this London Tesco is empty of pasta, pasta sauces, rice and other staples but crisps and chocolate oranges appear to have been left
This London Sainsbury’s is running out of germ-busting disinfectant, bleach and anti-bacterial wipes
Water is also selling out in supermarkets including this Asda in the capital despite coronavirus posing little threat to the country’s water supply
Sales of oral painkillers such as paracetamol, aspirin and ibuprofen are up ten per cent in the past year
Milk also appears to be flying off themselves along with other dairy products such as cheese and yoghurts also selling well
There has also been a spike in sales of effervescent drinks containing vitamin C including Berocca and Redoxen
This MailOnline reader has shared pictures of her stockpiled goods that include pies, squash, beans, sauces, detergent, bottled water and pet food
These two pocket-sized bottles of limited edition antibacterial hand gel are being sold on Amazon for £50 as people try to cash in
Shops have seen a surge in panic buying fuelled by the coronavirus crisis – and supermarkets have now drawn up contingency plans to ‘feed the nation’ in the event of a sudden escalation, it has emerged.
With two chains already rationing sales, a former Tesco executive said a major outbreak in Britain would ‘quickly lead to empty shelves and food riots’.
Ocado has emailed customers to warn it is running out of home delivery slots due to ‘exceptionally high demand’ and ‘particularly large orders’.
Waitrose reported ‘seeing more demand for… cleaning products and hand sanitisers’, and Tesco’s website has sold out of hand gel.
Lidl said it is ‘experiencing a significant increase in demand for durable products and disinfectants’.
It has now limited sales of hand sanitisers to two per customer – as has Boots.
Industry experts insist that supermarkets have contingency plans to cope with a worst-case scenario and, despite the pressure, will ensure food remains on shelves.
Under the plans, supermarkets would work alongside suppliers to scale back the variety of available foods and groceries, instead paying attention to maintaining the supply of staple products, the Guardian reported.
However, senior food markets analyst Bruno Monteyne, a former Tesco executive, warned: ‘If a major [coronavirus] outbreak happens, that will quickly lead to panic buying, empty shelves and food riots.’
Mr Monteyne, who now works for stockbrokers Bernstein, told industry magazine The Grocer: ‘Plans are surely being drawn up with suppliers to rationalise product ranges when necessary. The objective isn’t to scaremonger… the industry has plans to deal with this.
‘Yes, it will be chaotic – and expect pictures of empty shelves – but the industry will keep the country fed.’
The British Retail Consortium’s director of food and sustainability, Andrew Opie, insisted: ‘Disruption to supply chains has been limited, and the availability of products remains good. Retailers are working closely with their suppliers and monitoring consumer behaviour to anticipate changes in future demand.’
Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, added: ‘At this stage supply chains have experienced disruption but there is no evidence of significant disruption to food supplies.’
However, Ged Futter, a former senior buyer at Asda, said supermarkets were reluctant to admit to shortages for fear of making matters worse.
Mr Futter, now director at consultancy firm The Retail Mind, said: ‘The last thing retailers will want to talk about is rationing. As soon as you mention rationing it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the food equivalent of a run on the banks.’
Toilet rolls are in short supply at Sainsbury’s in Liphook – close to Haslemere, the current epicentre of the UK coronavirus outbreak
Empty shelves in Boots in Weymouth where it is hard to get your hands on handsoap and anti-bacterial gel
Sainsbury’s in East Dulwich has a severely depleted poultry section as people stock up on food
There is also a visible shortage of toilet roll as people also stock up on tissues
MailOnline reader Navjot Singh said he has been trying to buy own brand bags of pasta and sauce for three days – but only the premium brands remain
These bare shelves in a Boots pharmacy as panic buying over the UK took hold
Superdrug and Boots has sold out of hand gel and face masks at their stores with emergency orders on their way
Families are building up reserves to ensure their homes are ‘fit for a pandemic’ with some purchasing new chest freezers to fill with food and portable camp toilets to avoid sharing a loo if a relative tests positive for the killer virus.
A shortage of germ-killing antibacterial gel has seen a spurt in sales of surgical spirit on eBay and Amazon by people desperate to sanatise their hands, with Boots sold out today.
On social media one panicked Briton revealed that they have turned one small room in their house into an ‘isolation zone’ equipped with cooking equipment, bedding and food if they have to be in quarantine for a fortnight.
Another Mumsnet user said: ‘I’ve cleaned and prepped the farm caravan so if needed it could be an isolation suite. Useful place to store surplus supplies, tinned food etc as well’.
Others are drawing up spreadsheets of the items they need to buy to last them weeks or months in self-isolation.
Professor Ratula Chakraborty, professor of business management at the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: ‘The prospect of whole towns being in lockdown and shops closed is heightening the fear and stockpiling may become rife’.
Experts believe the stockpiling of medicine and food in family homes ‘may become rife’ as people grow increasingly concerned about coronavirus disrupting British life.
Professor Chakraborty, said: ‘One big opportunity for the supermarkets may be home delivery, where online grocery retailers could see a bonanza as consumers shy away from visiting stores and instead prefer to shop from the safety of their own homes.
‘There is no immediate need to stockpile or panic buy any goods, but people should be prepared to help out and shop for vulnerable relatives and friends who are elderly or have underlying conditions which places them at a greater risk of developing severe symptoms if the coronavirus spreads’.
Ged Futter, a former senior buyer at Asda, said supermarkets were reluctant to admit to shortages for fear of making matters worse (file image)
With two chains already rationing sales, a former Tesco executive said a major outbreak in Britain would ‘quickly lead to empty shelves and food riots’ (file image)