What is panic-buying and why do people do it?

You might be hearing the words 'panic-buying' again in the news but supermarkets are reassuring customers that there's no need because they have enough supplies and people can continue to buy as they normally would.

'Panic-buying' is when someone buys lots more of a particular product than they need because they're worried that it might run out in the shops, or that the price of it might go up because it's more in demand.

Psychologist Laverne Antrobus says: "Panic-buying comes from our natural instinct which is to want to make sure that we have what we need to survive (function) but we can do that while also making sure everyone else has enough too. Thinking of others at this time is really important."

Why is it happening?

Christmas is a very busy time with thousands of lorries travelling from Dover each day

Earlier this week, France closed its border with the UK, which caused big delays for thousands of lorries before the border was reopened 48 hours later.

The journey over the Channel between France and the UK is an important trade route, with about 10,000 lorries a day travelling between Dover and Calais during busy periods such as Christmas, largely bringing in fresh food.

There have been worries that these might affect the amount of food available in shops, but supermarkets have been reassuring people that they have plenty of stocks and are working hard to find new suppliers.

Tesco says: "We have plenty of food for Christmas available in stores and would encourage all customers to shop as normal. We've been building our stockholding of key products ahead of the Christmas peak and are working closely with our hauliers and suppliers to continue the supply of goods into our stores.

Sainsbury's said all of its Christmas dinner products were "already in the country and we have plenty of these".

"We are also sourcing everything we can from the UK and looking into alternative transport for products sourced from Europe," Sainsbury's said.

It's happened before...

Back in March when we had our first lockdown due to coronavirus we heard about people buying more toilet rolls than they needed and supplies running low in shops.

Concern that they might not have enough loo roll meant some people buying far more than they needed at the time, while others had to shop around to even buy just one pack because the place they usually bought from had run out.

Shops put in rules to make sure that every shopper got their fair share while new supplies were coming in and shelves being restocked.

'Thinking of others at this time is really important'

Psychologist Laverne Antrobus says at times like this it's an opportunity for people to think as a community rather than just themselves.

Laverne says: "We're lucky to live in a country where we have good supplies of what we need in our shops and supermarkets. But if we start buying more than we need, other people might not be able to get what they need and struggle.

"So instead of buying five packs of pasta why not just buy what you normally buy so that's there's enough to go around? You can always head back to the shops again when you need more and when they supermarkets have been restocked."

There's also concern that over-buying fresh items like vegetables, that don't stay edible at home for that long, could mean lots just goes to waste when it could've been bought and eaten by someone else, something we really want to avoid especially at Christmas.