Islanders urged not to panic buy

Some people were keen to do their shopping before the noon press conference and it led to problems, as shops introduced social distancing.

Both Waitrose branches saw long queues and there were reports of serious traffic problems through the centre of St Martin’s, as shoppers waited to get into Marks & Spencer and the Co-op.

Even petrol stations saw queues, with members of staff at one saying they had sold out of two supplies of milk by 2pm and the third was already selling well.

The States urged people not to panic buy.

‘We know the supermarkets are incredibly busy this morning, please don’t panic buy,’ a States spokesperson said on Saturday.

‘Please consider others, don’t buy more than you need. This could stop someone else from getting the essentials. Panic buying only causes unnecessary alarm. Remember we’re in this together.’

Alliance shoppers also faced a long wait, with the queue snaking around two sides of the building and then into the Sigma car park at 10.30am.

Among them was one woman who waited for 40 minutes and was still not at the front. She had planned to do her shopping on Friday, but had put it off until Saturday.

‘I will probably buy a bit more today, just in case,’ she said.

Another mother and her adult sons queued for 45 minutes at Iceland in St Martin’s to get some of their goods and then queued for more than 45 minutes to get everything else they needed from Alliance.

‘We are buying fresh vegetable and fruits,’ they said.

‘Just items we need.’

In stark contrast, North Beach car park was mostly empty at 11am and, apart from the queues at the Co-op, it was quite quiet in Town. Some independent businesses had already shut in anticipation of a lockdown.

Moore’s Hotel and Dix Neuf had shut and Christies was open only to feed their staff. However, Cafe Emilia was quite busy.

Many UK chains, such as WHSmiths, adopted UK-style restrictions such as markings on the floor and limits in the shop.

Costa was operating a takeaway service and allowing only two people in at a time.

Airtel-Vodafone had a list of rules on the door and also a tablet to check the temperature on anyone who entered.

Supervisor Greta Sidlauskaite said they were well prepared, as the Jersey branch had been having to cope with restrictions for months.

‘It has been quite quiet,’ she said.