Costco 'chaos' as panic buying shoppers stockpile water and toilet roll after 'survival kit' warning

Costco 'chaos' as panic buying shoppers stockpile water and toilet roll after 'survival kit' warning Shoppers queued with trolleys piled with bottled water and household essentials including toilet roll after Brits were urged to prepare a 'survival kit' to last them through an emergency Chaotic scenes unfolded at Costco as shoppers loaded up on bottled water and other essentials following a new Government survival kit warning. Shopper Sophia Akpati captured the scenes after popping into Costco in Greater Manchester on October 26 to buy her younger brother a birthday cake. The 22-year-old said she was stunned by how busy the warehouse was when she arrived, claiming the water and paper towel aisles were so packed she struggled to get through. It comes after Defence Secretary Wes Streeting urged Brits to prepare three days’ worth of bottled water and non-perishable food to help them cope during an emergency. The advice forms part of the Government’s new “Be Ready” campaign, which encourages households to prepare for disruption caused by emergencies including severe weather, power cuts and cyber attacks. The customer service advisor from Ardwick, Manchester, said she had not expected shoppers to react this way to the announcement. She said: “I just went in to get my little brother a birthday cake. I read the announcement [government] last week but I didn’t think people were taking it seriously. “I got the cake and was walking around the store and the water bit [aisle] and paper towel aisle were really full and you couldn’t get by. I started filming as it started to get ridiculous. I think it’s quite funny that people have got quite scared by the government’s announcement. I don’t think it’s necessary to do this. People were bulk buying water, tissues, paper towels and detergents. The government is scaremongering them into doing this.” After being faced with a queue of around 100 people and waiting 20 minutes to get served, Sophia believes the new advice had scared shoppers. She said: “As I was walking to pay the line was just crazy. It seemed quite chaotic and like people were frightened after the announcement. "It was a crazy scene to see, I didn’t expect it to be like this. I feel like I need to stock up on these items now because of the stockpilers and not because of the government announcement.” The Government’s scheme is designed to encourage UK households to take a few simple steps to stay prepared if everyday services are briefly disrupted, The “Be Ready” guidance encourages people to gradually build up supplies, including bottled water, food that does not need refrigeration or cooking, a torch, batteries, a power bank and a battery or wind-up radio. Sophia's footage has since racked up more than 13,000 likes on TikTok and sparked hundreds of comments - although not everybody was convinced she had witnessed anything particularly unusual, one person said it was a 'daily scene' at Costco. But one shopper claimed supplies had already been thin on the ground during their own visit, writing: “I went yesterday and there was no water or toilet roll. We also buy a pack of water when we go but not this time.”