A man has been criticised for cashing in on Coronavirus panic buying after he made £3,000 in two hours selling toilet paper out of the back of his van.

Lee Marshall set up his stall on a layby with 600 cases of 45 rolls that he has been selling for £15 a pack. He bought them from a wholesaler and says they did not last long, raking in thousands of pounds in profit for him and his two friends.

He said: ‘If you want loo roll you’ve got to get out of bed at 4am get yourselves down to Morrisons or Aldi, you’ll be queueing up for about an hour and you might be able to get one if you’re lucky. Lee’s Loo Rolls Limited is now open.’

The DJ, known as Disco Boy, wanted to do his own version of running a cherry stall by bulk-buying toilet paper and selling it in Whitstable, Kent. He said: ‘A supplier messaged us and said they’ve got loads of toilet roll and can’t sell them because hotels aren’t buying at the moment. They’re just sitting in a warehouse.

‘I looked in the supermarket and they were roughly the same price as an Andrex toilet paper anyway – so we’ve sort of made £3-per-pack on them.

‘We kept some back for delivering at night – as we’ve had a lot of people messaging that they can’t reach us. My mate Brett was out until 11.30pm the day before.

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‘The last drop-off I did last night, the old lady was scared and left her money by the door. We’ve done so many home deliveries and haven’t charged extra for them.’

Speaking about whether he would do it again, Lee admitted that it would be a definite possibility.

He said: ‘I’m a DJ and I’ve had so many gigs cancelled. I’ve got bills to pay and trying to keep my head above water. I’ve always been a bit of a businessman and thought you can’t always make memories, but you can always make money.’

The video of Lee advertising his makeshift business has divided the internet.

Edward Snowdon said: ‘Missed opportunity here, you could have gone around giving it away for free and that video would have gone absolutely viral and you would have more than likely made more than £3k from views.’

Brush Brush added: ‘Yeah well done mate making a lot of money out of scared people panicking, great job extorting people big thumbs up pal…ha ha*’

Another added: ‘That’s messed up… I really like your videos normally but you are profiteering off of a health crisis. The bulk buy that you made to get all of this could have stopped old ladies and other people in need from accessing it.’

Responding to the criticism, Lee wrote on his YouTube channel that he and his friends had lost their jobs.

He added: ‘All four of us involved have lost our jobs – we had this week and have bills to pay like anyone else.

‘Just putting this out there as there seems to be a lot of statements going around that we profited heavily from the vulnerable when it’s not like that at all.

‘Actually had a horrible week despite keeping a smile and powering through – hearing of so many others losing their jobs and my gigs getting cancelled.

‘Most of us reading this have our health, a roof over are head and a half comfy bed. I’ve never been one to show off materialistic things – I’m all about making the memories, travelling to places etc it’s gonna be tough times for all ahead. Always appreciate the simple things in life.

‘I’m usually happy all the time, I’m messing around with friends, making random vidz – just saying this cause now is the time to be very careful with the money we do have in times of uncertainty. Peace out much.’

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