By Ron Howells • Published: 23 Jul 2021 • 7:54
Expats worry UK's 'pingdemic' will affect British supermarket supplies in Spain. image: Stock Photo
Expats worry UK’s ‘pingdemic’ will affect British supermarket supplies in Spain after seeing empty shelves on TV.
British supermarkets have warned of a ‘pingdemic’ threat to food supplies as thousands of staff are called off work by the NHS phone app. This is causing concern to many expats residing in Spain who worry they will not be able to buy British branded products from their local English supermarket.
Staff shortages at food production manufacturers and delivery problems caused by the consistent pinging of the Covid-19 app mean that some of Britain’s favourite products are off the shelf for now. The government has moved to downplay the reported supply disruption on the media in the last few days but expats in Spain have serious doubts over the claims.
“Another mess up by the UK government! They all go on about Spain being behind or slow but they don’t have food shortages here,” said Kim Evans, a retired bank manager from the UK who lives in Mijas Costa.
“I like to pop down the road to Iceland or Tescos and pick up a few things I miss from home, my wife and I used to make the trip to Morrisons in Gibraltar- until we found out certain items cannot be brought back into Spain, which is a lot of the stuff we like – the curries, and pasties and other meat items,” he added.
This sentiment is echoed across social media and the banter increases as Sky News and the BBC show empty supermarket shelves across the UK due to a lack of food production and customers binge buying.
Hauliers from the UK and Ireland make weekly deliveries to British supermarkets in Spain, if the pingdemic is going to make a difference, then it will be noticed it shortly.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, please remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Ron actually started his working career as an Ophthalmic Technician- things changed when, during a band rehearsal, his amplifier blew up and he couldn’t get it fixed so he took a course at Birmingham University and ended up doing a degree course. He built up a chain of electronics stores and sold them as a franchise over 35 years ago. After five years touring the world Ron decided to move to Spain with his wife and son, a place they had visited over the years, and only bought the villa they live in because it has a guitar-shaped swimming pool!. Playing the guitar since the age of 7, he can often be seen, (and heard!) at beach bars and clubs along the length of the coast. He has always been interested in the news and constantly thrives to present his articles in an interesting and engaging way.
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.