Tesco chair John Allan has sought to reassure consumers that there is no need to panic buy, following fears of product shortages this Christmas.
Allan played down fears that supply chain disruption caused by a shortage of lorry drivers would result in empty shelves during the festive period.
He spoke out after it was reported that Tesco had privately informed the government that it was concerned about the possibility of panic buying as a result.
Allan told ITV: “I don’t think the end result will be a horrendous crisis at Christmas. I would hate for people to get the impression that we are going to have a terrible Christmas and they’ve got to go out and panic buy. I think we will get through without too much damage.”
As part of its efforts to address the driver shortage, Tesco has been offering new hires bonuses of £1,000. However, UK distribution and fulfilment director Andrew Woolfenden said Tesco has only managed to attract as many drivers as it lost to competitors in recent months.
The driver shortage has hit many retailers, including non-food businesses, but concerns have been focused on supermarket groups and images posted on social media of bare shelves, including at Tesco.
However, Allan said: “I go round a lot of my competitors’ stores – I could show you pictures of my competition, but they wouldn’t be representative at all. I think it’s been overdramatised.”
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