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Elderly and vulnerable customers who visited Sainsbury’s stores for a dedicated shopping hour have said they were met with huge crowds and empty shelves on Thursday morning.
The first hour of trading at the supermarket’s 2,300 UK stores had been set aside for the exclusive use of those whose health is most at risk from the disease. Many people have taken to social media to complain about the chaos.
Teresa Marsh, 63, who visited Sainsbury’s Balham superstore, in south-west London, with her 71-year-old husband, described the dedicated hour as “a waste of time”.
“It was very, very busy. There were vulnerable people up close and personal in that scrum when I thought it would be a sedate shopping experience,” she said. “There was very little tinned fish, no toilet rolls, no kitchen rolls, no tinned tomatoes. I didn’t feel there was any advantage.”
Marsh added that she felt Sainsbury’s should have provided signage outlining the dedicated hour to both security guards and customers. “As I left about half seven, there were security on the door just letting people in – it didn’t matter what age they were, they were just saying in you go. It was just getting busier,” she said.
Daniella Brice, 37, from Lingfield, in Surrey, who has asthma and diabetes and is seven months pregnant, said her 73-year-old mother went to the Sainsbury’s store in East Grinstead, Sussex, at 6.50am to pick up some essentials for her.
Although “she was looking forward to it as has found the shops so stressful”, she had to queue to get in the store, to find the shelves empty of bread, milk, loo roll, tins, meat and spices.
“She then endured huge queues at checkout as they hadn’t opened most checkouts – putting her close to other shoppers for a prolonged time,” said Brice. “All it has done it lower my mum’s moral and confidence even more.”
Leighton Snowdon, 21, from Newcastle, pointed out that some customers whose disabilities were not visible had been subject to misguided scrutiny. Snowdon, who has autism and ADHD, said he presented his disabled person’s bus pass to a staff member at the Heaton superstore but received “lots of comments from people saying there isn’t anything wrong with him”.
Symptoms are defined as either:
- a high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- a new continuous cough – this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly
NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
After 14 days, anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine. But, if anyone in your home gets symptoms, they should stay at home for 7 days from the day their symptoms start. Even if it means they’re at home for longer than 14 days.
Information: If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days.
If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.
After 7 days, if you no longer have a high temperature you can return to your normal routine.
If you still have a high temperature, stay at home until your temperature returns to normal.
If you still have a cough after 7 days, but your temperature is normal, you do not need to continue staying at home. A cough can last for several weeks after the infection has gone.
Source: NHS England on 18 March 2020
He also said that despite arriving at 6.30am – half an hour before the shop opened – it was impossible to avoid large crowds. “[By] around 6:50am around 300 people queuing up and before the store opened the car park was almost full and people we’re running for the toilet rolls,” said Snowdon.
In a statement, Sainsbury’s said that customers over 70 or who have a disability would be given priority access to its online delivery slots from Monday 23 March. It added that it would be expanding its “click and collect” services for all customers.
UK supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco and Aldi have announced tight new restrictions on purchases in recent days amid a battle to keep food on the shelves as panicked shoppers continue to stockpile.
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