Select a region
Low income islanders have been reduced to tears wondering how they will continue to feed their families amid the covid-19 outbreak, Jersey's consumer watchdog has said, as he joined with retailers to urge against panic-buying.
The comments from Consumer Council Chair Carl Walker came as the Council published a joint letter promoting “sensible” and “considerate shopping."
Signed by the CI Co-Op, Iceland, Morrisons Daily, Tesco Alliance and Waitrose, the letter urges customers to only buy what they need amongst growing corona virus fears.
It arose from a joint meeting aimed at tackling bulk-buying as the island faces the growing threat of corona virus.
It was today confirmed that the number of official island cases has risen to five, with each of the individuals having returned from “affected countries” and so far no evidence of them having passed the infection onto another islander.
The supermarket partnership say: “We are working closely with our suppliers and the Government of Jersey to ensure that a continual supply of food and goods comes into the island and is distributed across our supermarkets as quickly as possible.”
The retailers state that they are working with the Consumer Council “to reassure [customers] that there is no need for you to buy more than you need, and we ask you to shop sensibly and consider others.
“Buying more than you need is creating difficulty for those on limited incomes and pensions, and places extra strain on our hard-working employees to keep our stores stocked."
The major outlets also call for shoppers to “be considerate” towards supermarket staff as well as “fellow shoppers who may be buying food and supplies for friends, neighbours or family".
Speaking to Express about the importance of following this guidance, Jersey Consumer Council Chairman Carl Walker said: “Under normal circumstances… I would have been on the other side of the table, representing the consumer and perhaps sometimes taking retailers to task for various things.
“This time, I’m sitting on the same side of the table, asking consumers, the very people we’re supposed to represent, to just please be considerate of others. Hopefully that demonstrates to the community how importantly we’re taking this and how seriously they need to take it.
"We’re not doing this because the government have asked us, we’re not doing this because supermarkets have asked us, we’re doing this because the consumer council is being contacted by consumers who can’t buy the food that they need to survive and to give their family. That’s the reason we’re doing it.”
Pictured: Consumer Council Chairman Carl Walker. (Twitter/Carl Walker)
Elaborating on the concerns of these vulnerable families, Mr Walker commented: “I’ve had people in tears on the phone saying, ‘How am I going to feed my children, when I go to the supermarket and all that’s there is the luxury, organic, super-specialist items when I’m on a low income? How can I possibly fill a shopping basket?’”
In terms of the frequency of deliveries, Mr Walker confirmed that all of the major outlets are receiving their regular level of stock coming in each day, promising that “the shelves will be replenished as soon as they get a chance".
He added that the main concern is to allay consumers’ worries.
“The island’s not going to run out, it’s high up on the distribution list of these retailers and the shelves are being restocked all the time.”
Mr Walker also emphasised that even though someone looks like they might be stockpiling, there’s every possibility that they are shopping for someone who has been advised to self-isolate.
When asked if there was any intention to bring in early opening hours for elderly or vulnerable shoppers as has been introduced in the UK, Mr Walker replied: “There was a bit of reluctance on behalf of the supermarkets because they were unsure without having proper advice whether it’s sensible to get all the vulnerable people all in the same place all at the same time.
“If you get over 90-year-olds all in one supermarket and one person has it, you hit them all in one go. There was that kind of reluctance until there’s a bit more advice on it, they don’t want to jump at that opportunity.”
However, the Council Chairman insisted that this issue is prevalent in the minds of retailers: “We’ve opened discussions about how we bring the community together and how we can look at making sure that those who are perhaps limited on where they can go and when they can go and other restrictions in place, how we make sure that food and those goods and the things that they need are being delivered. So that’s something we’re going to meet about again hopefully next week.”
Ultimately, Mr Walker hopes this letter will get shared enough as to harness Jersey’s “community spirit”.
“The island has a great community spirit and people want to help each other and the best way they can do that at the moment is just put a lid on this panic buying.”
So far, there are five official positive cases in Jersey and the Health Department has opened a dedicated testing facility for those referred through the helpline.
Meanwhile, the Government are reiterating their most recent advice regarding the corona virus outbreak.
READ MORE: The latest from Express on covid-19 in Jersey…
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.