

SOBBING NHS staff were shoved out of the way as panic buyers hijacked store time reserved for health workers yesterday.

Shocking video shows the huge crowds in a Tesco, and also fights breaking out, as the shelves were stripped bare.

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Videos show the huge crowds in a Tesco, and also fights breaking out, as the shelves were stripped bare

A Tesco in Milton, near Cambridge, had to shut its doors after shoppers invaded in the hour reserved for health staff Credit: GEOFF ROBINSON.

Many NHS employees like Sophia Brown had to flee as social distancing advice was ignored Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Many NHS employees had to flee as social distancing advice was ignored. Sophia Brown, whose husband filmed it in Dudley, West Mids, said: “I’m a dental business manager and my husband is a nurse.

“We have a three-year-old daughter and we are both working and providing support to everyone during the crisis the world is facing.

“My husband saw that Tesco were opening 9am to 10am on Sundays for NHS staff and care workers so he popped along to pick up some basics like milk, bread, eggs, etc.

“He arrived and this was what he was greeted by. As a nation we are being advised to socially distance ourselves to help prevent or at least slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“We all have a need of some sort but if people keep acting like this, there really will be a shortage.”

A Tesco in Milton, near Cambridge, had to shut its doors after shoppers also invaded in the hour reserved for health staff.

Security staff were forced to ask NHS workers for ID before allowing them in to shop first Credit: GEOFF ROBINSON.



It started operating a one-in, one-out policy when hundreds started shopping too early.

Huge queues built up at supermarkets across the UK as panic buying showed no sign of easing despite pleas from the Government and retailers.

Security staff were forced to ask NHS workers for ID before allowing them in to shop first. Scuffles broke out in several queues.

A Tesco in Cheshunt, Surrey, was overwhelmed with pushy shoppers after staff stopped checking IDs.

At a Tesco Extra in Southend, a queue snaked around the car park. And more than 300 stood in line outside its stores at Pitsea in Essex and Beckton, East London.

Many NHS workers had to leave without doing their shopping because they had to begin shifts and did not have enough time.

Nurse Kirsty Clark, 27, was one of those unable to buy any food at the Pitsea store.

She said: “I’m having to go home and the fridge and the cupboards are quite bare.

“I do think it’s really sad. If we all do our normal shopping as advised, there is enough to go round. I’ve been doing ten, 12-hour shifts so it isn’t as easy for me to do a shop.”

Midwife Danielle Atkins, 36, was another who left empty-handed after non-NHS workers queued in front of her at a Tesco in Basildon, Essex.

She said: “Work had told me I can do my shopping between 9am and 10am but I can’t.” Many health staff also said they could not stand in line after being told by bosses they would face suspension if they are seen in crowds.

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis called for calm, saying: “Buy only what you need, so that there is enough for everyone.

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“Maybe at the end of each aisle ask yourself. ‘Next week, do I need everything in my trolley or basket?’ If the answer is ‘No’, then please consider putting some things back on shelves.

“If all of us do just a bit of that, then every little will help.”

Waitrose shops are from today setting aside hard-to-find and essential products exclusively for NHS staff.