Isle Of Wight Shoppers Urged 'Don't Panic Buy' As Pingdemic Concerns Grow

Thursday, 22 July 2021 13:40

By Oliver Dyer @olidyer

Isle of Wight residents are being urged not to panic buy as supermarkets face supply shortages.

Food retailers say they're finding it "increasingly difficult" to stock shelves as workers are forced to self-isolate.

It comes as NHS England figures reveal a record 618,903 people in England and Wales were pinged by the NHS COVID-19 app in a week.

Lidl, which has stores in Newport and Shanklin, says the situation is "increasingly difficult" as staff are being constantly "pinged".

A spokesperson said:

"Like all other retailers, the situation is becoming increasingly difficult as we have more and more colleagues having to self-isolate after being notified by the Track and Trace system. Whilst this is starting to have an impact on our operations, our teams are working hard to minimise any disruption to customers."

Meanwhile, Iceland bosses are calling for clarity from the Government. The supermarket giant says it's been forced to launch a recruitment drive.

Iceland has stores in Ryde and Newport - and also owns the Food Warehouse.

Richard Walker, Managing Director at Iceland, said:

“We are seeing some stock shortages across stores, as a result of both staff absences caused by the Pingdemic and the ongoing HGV driver shortage. We need absolute clarity from the Government as soon as possible, including a Test and Trace self isolation exemption list, to include all retail workers and HGV drivers.

"We have taken matters into our own hands and are launching a drive to recruit 2,000 new workers to support, so we can continue in our efforts to feed the nation via our stores and delivery service. We have already increased online capacity by 400% and continue to offer free home delivery, the only supermarket to do so.

"We are urging people to avoid stockpiling and to shop responsibly – the industry is working hard to resolve the issue and panic buying will only increase pressure on retail workers who have worked tirelessly to feed the nation throughout the pandemic.”

Sainsbury's and the Co-operative also say they're running low on some products.

A spokesperson for Co-op said:

“We are sorry that we are running low on some products. Like many retailers, we are impacted by some patchy disruption to our deliveries and store operations but we are working closely with our suppliers to get re-stocked quickly.”

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said:

“We are working hard to ensure customers can find what they need. While we might not always have the exact product a customer is looking for in every store, large quantities of products are being delivered to stores daily and our colleagues are focused on getting them onto the shelves as quickly as they can.”

The UK’s business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng earlier confirmed a list of workers, exempt from isolation rules, will be published today (Thursday).

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Isle Of Wight Shoppers Urged 'Don't Panic Buy' As Pingdemic Concerns Grow

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