Shelves empty at supermarkets as fridges break after heatwave
Foods were cleared from shelves at supermarkets after fridges malfunctioned in a heatwave hangover.
Customers were shocked at the sight of empty shelves at stores including Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Asda today.
Store bosses admitted problems with refrigerators due to the "adverse heat" as temperatures soared this week.
Despite cooler temperatures forecast for today and into the weekend, supermarkets were still suffering a hangover from the sweltering conditions.
It came as commuters faced disruption on railways through the West Midlands due to overhead line failures.
And yesterday no West Midlands Metro trams ran between Birmingham and Wednesbury due to a power outage.
Met Office officials say 38.7C (101.6F) was recorded in Cambridge yesterday - and if confirmed it would make Thursday the hottest UK day on record.
Alarming
People took to Facebook posting pictures of empty shelves in the West Midlands.
Food had been cleared from stores including: Tesco, at New Square shopping centre, West Bromwich; Marks & Spencer, Wolverhampton; and Asda, Great Bridge, Tipton.
Heather Warren, aged 35 from West Bromwich, photographed the alarming scene inside the Tesco store.
She said in a social media post: "Just to let everyone know if you're planning to come shopping to Tesco I wouldn't bother! All the fridges and freezers are empty due to the hot weather yesterday."
"They broadcast it on their mic to all customers three times when I was there."
A staff member at Tesco confirmed the fridges at the store were not operating.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We have had problems with our refrigerators at our West Bromwich Extra store as a result of the high temperatures over the past few days and are working hard to get them back up and running as soon as possible. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this has caused.”
At Marks & Spencer, Wolverhampton, a notice for shoppers was hung on an empty shelf, which had been cleared of food and drink products, apologising for the lack of products on sale.
It read: "We are sorry for the inconvenience.
"We are having some issues due to the adverse heat of our fridges."
There was problems at Asda in Great Bridge, where staff were forced to relocate food to a backup refrigerator.
Fresh
An Asda spokesman said: "‘Given the extreme heat yesterday it was important for us to minimise food wastage and ensure our products maintained their quality.
"For this reason we moved some of our frozen products into a rear refrigeration room to keep them as fresh as possible.
"We would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience.
"We are pleased to report that not a scoop of ice cream has been wasted and we’ve got plenty of products to help keep our customers cool this summer!’’
Meanwhile, patients and staff were facing “totally unbearable” conditions in hospitals due to the record-breaking temperatures.
