A shopper claims he was banned from Tesco after taking pictures of the empty shelves which had been stripped bare by coronavirus stockpilers.

Ian Driver reveals how he visited a Tesco Extra in Broadstairs, Kent to pick up groceries with his wife, when he noticed how the baked beans, eggs and beer aisles had been cleared out by stockpilers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The 60-year-old took photos of the empty aisles on his phone before being approached by a member of staff who asked what he was doing. Driver continued shopping before a security guard stopped him on his way out. 

The guard reportedly took a photo of Driver, a father of three, before declaring him banned from that particular store for six months. ‘You really can’t make it up. It still hasn’t sunk in,’ Driver explained. 

‘I was with my wife and we went at 9am after we dropped my daughter at school. I noticed a lot of the shelves were empty.

‘I took some photographs because it is not usually like that. I have seen a lot of people share similar photos on Facebook.’ 

The former councillor continued: ‘A member of staff came up to me who was extremely pleasant.

‘I explained what I had done and carried on with my shopping. Then about 15 minutes later as he left he was stopped by security. He got quite aggressive and said I was banned for six months.’ 

A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We want everyone to feel welcome in our stores and always work to ensure the safety of our customers and colleagues.’ 

Panic-buyers hit stores in their droves this weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced all pubs, restaurants, bars, theatres and leisure centres were to close from Friday evening. 

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Stephen Powis, who is the NHS England national medical director, said on Saturday that ‘selfish’ panic buyers need to think of those who will be ‘looking after us and our loved ones’ in coming weeks, as the UK total number of cases passes 4,000. 

Addressing the nation at a Downing Street press conference today, he appealed to the public on behalf of his colleagues, bringing attention to a critical care nurse who filmed herself breaking down in tears after being unable to find food at a supermarket following a 48-hour shift. 

He said: ‘I would just like to make a plea on behalf of all my colleagues in the NHS. Nurses, doctors, paramedics and many, many others who are working incredibly hard at the moment to manage this outbreak of coronavirus, and are preparing for the surge that they know will be coming at them. 

‘It’s incredibly important that they too have access to food, to those essential supplies that they need.

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