Growing numbers of ordinary Brits are stocking up on extra food, medicine and other supplies, as fears grow of huge disruption if Britain leaves the EU without a deal in October.

Food, fuel and medicine shortages are possible as well as heavy and sustained delays at borders for UK imports and exports, according to a leaked ‘Operation Yellowhammer’ government report published on Sunday.

A survey last week suggested almost one in five people had begun stockpiling, buying hundreds of pounds of extra goods and spending an estimated £4bn ($4.8bn) overall so far.

Yahoo Finance UK spoke to four members of the public about their fears of shortages from vital children’s medicines to toilet roll, with some buying hundreds of tinned foods they could survive on for months.

Melvin Burton, 46, Ely: ‘I probably have about four or five months of food’

View photos Melvin Burton has stockpiled since six months after the EU referendum in 2016. Photos: Melvin Burton / Handout More

Melvin Burton, an IT software tester, said he had several hundred tins, jars and other supplies at his home in Ely, enough for his family to survive on for “four or five months.”

He began stocking up six months after the EU referendum in 2016, and warned it was “complacent” to rely on the government and businesses for essential supplies.

With little UK advice available then, he turned to prepping guides from the US, but found they were mainly aimed at surviving “the apocalypse or nuclear war.”

Burton, who lives with his wife and eight-year-old daughter, even briefly consulted a Mormon survival guide.

READ MORE: Brits spend ‘£4bn’ stockpiling ahead of no-deal Brexit

But with much of the US advice online focused on “storing food for 20 years,” he decided to just buy long-life versions of his usual go-to items — lentils, tuna, beans, peas, and other canned foods.

He also imported tools from the US to start canning his own vegetables, and said he expected his family would eat most of the food anyway even if it wasn’t needed.

View photos Melvin Burton's Brexit supplies. Photo: Melvin Burton / Handout More

Burton bought a ‘shattaf’ shower head in case loo roll supplies run out, as well as paracetamol and antihistamines.

“I did a risk assessment and wrote down what might happen,” he said. “If trucks are held up at borders and that means any shortages on the shelves, there could be panic buying and then nothing on the shelves.”

“I will probably end up giving some of it to a foodbank if we end up remaining,” he added.

Emma Burnell, 44, East London: ‘If I’m wrong, I just look a bit silly but I’ve done my November shop’

View photos Emma Burnell has been stocking up on ingredients for her favourite meals for Brexit. Photo: Emma Burnell / Handout More

Emma Burnell, 44, from Leyton in east London, said she hoped Brexit supporters were right that no-deal would be less disastrous than most experts predict.

“I know people more optimistic about Brexit than I am. I don’t want to be right - I just want to be prepared if I am,” she said. “If I’m not, I just look a bit silly but I’ve already done my November shop.”

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