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One in five Londoners ‘unable to access essential foods for two weeks’ amid shortages
One in five Londoners were unable to access essential food items in the past fortnight due to shortages caused by Britain’s supply chain crisis, according to new research.
The capital is the second-worst region of the UK for food shortages after the North East, according to analysis conducted by delivery management experts Urbantz.
The research used data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on goods shortages to analyse the percentage of people who were unable to access essential food items between September 22 and October 3. The ONS defined essential foods as items which were “needed on a regular basis”.
As many as 12 per cent of Londoners bought less food than usual during the period as a result of the shortages, according to the study.
Meanwhile, one in six Londoners said the items they had wanted to purchase were not available and they could not find a replacement. The same proportion of people claimed they were unable to purchase fuel during the period.
The UK has faced supply chain issues in the past two months amid a shortage of HGV drivers.
The shortage has had numerous knock-on effects and has caused a backlog at ports such as Felixstowe. Shipping containers were not able to be emptied and removed from the port quick enough for new deliveries to be deposited.
Industry bosses on Wednesday warned the shortage was “not visibly getting better” despite assurances from ministers that Christmas would not be affected.
Duncan Buchanan, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee, said: “Things are not visibly getting better at this stage, and I know there are a number of measures that have been put in place, stepping up training, stepping tests, but on the ground that isn’t having much of an effect.”
Ian Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, stressed there is “enough food” but getting some products to shelves is still being impacted by supply challenges.
A spokesperson for Urbantz, which conducted the study, said: “With the country facing significant delivery of food and other essentials, it’s important to look at the experiences of families in the UK, and what they have dealt with in the past two weeks when trying to shop for food, medicine and fuel.
“The impact of the driver shortage is felt across the entire supply chain, all the way through to the last mile - where consumers are faced with fewer choices at checkout and longer delays on their deliveries due to retailers’ struggles to keep their warehouses stocked.”
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