M&S creates dedicated shopping hours for ‘our brilliant NHS workers’ and vulnerable customers

Marks & Spencer has dedicated specific shopping hours for NHS workers and vulnerable customers in order to help them cope with panic buying. 

Supermarkets across the UK are being stripped bare of essentials while panicked customers hoard products such as toilet paper and hand sanitiser amid the coronavirus panic. 

Many shops have set limits on how many units of product individual customers are allowed to buy in a bid to calm down customers who have seen fit to buy up as much stock as possible.  

From today, Marks & Spencer will make it so that only NHS staff and emergency workers and vulnerable customers will be able to shop during their first hour of trading on certain days. 

On Tuesdays and Fridays, NHS and emergency workers will be invited in early and on Mondays and Thursdays older and vulnerable customers will get the first hour of trading to do their shopping. 

In other developments: 

• Ikea has become the first major retailer to close stores to limit the spread of coronavirus. All 22 outlets shut up shop at 6pm yesterday and are unlikely to open for weeks; 
• Police have been asked to patrol outside some supermarkets to deter violence; 
• Co-op is to fast track its recruitment of 5,000 people to cope with demand and will provide temporary employment for hospitality workers who have lost their jobs; 
• M&S is following other stores by introducing rationing to limit panic buying. There will be a cap of two items per customer when buying frozen foods, groceries and eggs; 
• Sainsbury’s will give online customers who are over 70 or with a disability priority access to its delivery slots; 
• Harrods shut most of the store at 7pm last night – only the food hall and pharmacy will remain open. Other stores are expected to follow Tesco and M&S and offer special hours for medical staff

It comes as a critical care nurse, Dawn Bilbrough, 51, from York, who had just completed a lengthy and exhausting shift, explained that she had visited her supermarket to pick up basic food items for the next two days when she was left having a ‘little cry’.

After discovering there were no fruit and vegetables for her to sustain a healthy living amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the healthcare worker made a tearful plea to the public urging them to ‘just stop it’.

 The nurse took to Facebook from the seat of her car to tell the nation: ‘So I’ve just come out the supermarket. There’s no fruit and veg and I had a little cry in there.’ 

‘I’m a critical care nurse and I’ve just finished 48 hours of work and I just wanted to get some stuff in for the next 48 hours. 

‘There’s no fruit, there’s no vegetables and I just don’t know how I’m supposed to stay healthy. 

‘Those people who are just stripping the shelves have basic foods you just need to stop it because it’s people like me that are going to be looking after you when you are at your lowest and just stop it please!’ 

Britons retweeted Ms Bilbrough’s message using the hashtag #doitfordawn, urging shoppers to stop hoarding crucial groceries leaving others with little or nothing. 

After sharing the emotional video, Ms Bilbrough was flooded with messages of support from concerned friends and loved ones, with some offering her some of their very own food items.

One person wrote: ‘Oh Dawn, I’m so sorry to see you so upset. The job you are doing is so very important to so many people, and how unfair it is that this means you are last in line for the nutritious food you really need to stay healthy and keep doing that important job. Thinking of you and sending much love.xxx’

While another commented: ‘Oh dear Dawn, heartbreaking to see you like this, I feel you, you are strong, and it is so important what you do….and many others…proud proud proud. I will share….’

Another user added: ‘Sending you love and strength Dawn Bilbrough xx’ 

Ms Bilbrough’s appeal comes as retailers stress there is plenty of food in the supply chain but shoppers need to act responsibly to ensure everyone can get what they need- particularly those who are the most vulnerable. 

Following the rise in panic buying, supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s have announced that they will be restricting customers to only buying three of any grocery item. 

Meanwhile, while Asda and Morrisons have announced they too will be restricting purchases across 1,250 regularly-bought lines. 

Iceland, which is offering exclusive shopping hours for the elderly and disabled, said other people have tried to enter stores during the designated shopping period. 

A spokesman said: ‘We have had positive feedback from both customers and colleagues to this initiative but there have been some challenges where other customers have refused to respect the priority period. 

‘We are reliant on public goodwill and cannot police situations where other anxious customers insist on entering the store during the priority period. We would never ask our colleagues to put their own safety at risk by attempting to prevent them from doing so.’ 

Susan Maple, aged 77, wiped back tears as she waited outside an Iceland store in Harborne, Birmingham. 

She was trying to buy supplies for her 90-year-old neighbour who ‘can’t get out’. 

Fellow shopper John Merrill, 76, said: ‘I’ve got some things here which I couldn’t get earlier like margarine and toilet rolls. People don’t need to stockpile, it’s just stupid.’ 

Social media users have been heaping scorn on shoppers who are taking more than their fair share of precious groceries using the hashtag #stophoarding – calling on their countrymen to be considerate and take only what they need. 

The coronavirus has killed 177 people in the UK so far and some 3,355 people are infected with the illness. 

A spokesman said: ‘Supporting our customers and communities during this difficult time is our number one priority. 

‘We want to make sure everyone has access to the items they need, so we are setting aside the first hour of trading on certain days for our older and vulnerable customers, and for our brilliant NHS and emergency workers.’ 

An additional £17million has been spent on toilet paper alone so far this year in Britain.  

The data, from industry analysts Nielsen Scantrack for trade ‘bible’ The Grocer shows spending on the 12 most popular stockpiling products rose to £124 million in the week ending March 7th, up from £66 million for the same products 12 months earlier.  

Sales of children’s medicines rose 124 per cent year on year to £1.4 million in those first seven days of panic and adult analgesics were up 102.5 per cent to £3.6 million.

Toilet rolls, which have become the signature grocery product of the coronavirus epidemic in this country, saw an 88 per cent rise – or £17.6 million – to go from £20 million to £37.6 million.

Other items on every hoarder’s shopping list include bath and shower products, up 95 per cent, to £9.7 million.

This is while household cleaners were up by £6.6 million.

An extra 91 per cent was spent on facial tissues, up £3.6 million and 91 per cent more on UHT milk, up by £1.4 million.

Pasta products that had also been cleared from shelves were up 74 per cent to £3.3 million.