Why we mustn’t panic (buy) Captain Mainwaring, says Catherine Scott

He is one of those people who cannot go to the supermarket and just buy what we need; there is always some offer or other so he has to bulk buy.

Our conservatory looks like a cash and carry. Everytime he takes a trip to Costco my heart sinks as I have to make space for yet another hundredweight of toilet rolls.

Well, I have had to eat my words this week. With panic-buying seemingly sweeping the nation, I feared my weekly trip to our local supermarket may be fruitless.

I had expected the shelves to be bare but I was pleasantly surprised. For once our local Morrisons seemed to have predicted extra sales and actually had pretty much full stock – well, until I reached the soap and hand sanitiser aisle which was eerily barren.

While I can’t really understand the panic-buying phenomena – most supermarkets restock shelves on a nightly basis – you can forgive people for stocking up on soap, given the Government advice on hand-washing to avoid coronavirus. However, I really struggle to understand the need to panic buy loo roll, of all things.

A run on toilet roll (pardon the expression) has led to some supermarkets actually rationing the amount customers can buy.

But we are not alone. I received an email from a friend of mine in Australia, equally baffled about the shortage of toilet rolls. He wrote: “How much fun is Australia? December – drought, January – fires, February – floods; and now in March a national scare that we are going to run out of loo paper. If only we had the distraction of a Brexit to deal with.” Two women have been charged after a fight broke out over toilet roll in an Australian supermarket, a video of which was shared widely online.

According to psychologists, panic-buying toilet roll is a vicious cycle.

Psychologist Emma Kenny said the amount people were stockpiling was irrational.

“You’re not reacting to the virus, you’re reacting to the fear of what’s going to happen if people all panic-buy and that’s creating the panic-buying which feeds the whole cycle,” she said.

Other in-demand items include dried pasta, long-life milk, bleach, tinned vegetables, children’s medications, water and anti-bacterial wipes, gels and sprays.

But the advice from Government and retailers is there is no need to stockpile. The Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has said there is “absolutely no reason” for the British public to panic-buy.