A mum claims she's been 'barred' from buying too much fruit and veg in Lidl after attempting to walk out with 100 cucumbers during a supermarket shortage. Lisa Fearns has been buying the huge number of cucumbers from Lidl every week for the past three years to make detox drinks for her juicing business. The 49-year-old says as she was about to pay on Sunday a manager rushed over and 'barred' her from emptying the shelf of the fruit.
Some supermarket chains have started rationing fruit and vegetables due to shortages of fresh produce. The shortage is being blamed on bad weather and transport issues and to avoid panic buying some supermarkets have been placing limits on perishables. The mum-of-two says it took her two hours and five different supermarkets to complete her shop rather than the usual 15 minutes.
Frustrated Lisa lashed out at Lidl online where she wrote 'what the actual f****** f***', claiming she had been 'barred for purchasing to much fruit and veg' and saying she had now 'moved on' from them. Lidl stressed that they are a supermarket and not a wholesaler, where businesses traditionally buy their goods from for lower bulk prices to then sell on to their own customers. Lisa, said: "I've been going every week on a Sunday for three years. I get there at 10am because I need the cucumbers to be fresh then I make juices in the day.
"I get funny looks when I'm in the supermarket, people look at me like 'what are you doing?'I needed 100 cucumbers. The manager came running out of the back saying I'm buying too much fruit and veg and I can't purchase that much. They didn't want my custom so I said I'd take my custom to Aldi.
"I had to go Asda, another Lidl and another Aldi. I'm like a secret shopper. It [now] takes me about two hours to get all the shopping rather than 15 to 20 minutes. In Aldi there was a limit of three per person so I picked up six and they didn't say anything.
"I'm stressed about what I'm going to do every week. I'm going to have to find a pleasant, happy, fruit and vegetable store that would like to take my business. There's going to be a battle in the shops."
The personal trainer has been running her juicing business since the start of the first lockdown three years ago and says she's noticed the cost of fruit and vegetables soar. She says on average she spends around £70 on cucumbers every week before making detox juice and selling it on. Lisa said: "I ran a ladies only gym and I was going to set up a juice bar but then lockdown happened so I started juicing from home.
"On Sunday it was more expensive because I had to go to different shops. I remember cucumbers were only about 40p and now they're 70p, they've more or less doubled in price. It's stressful."
Lidl said that, unlike other retailers, they do not currently have any restrictions in place due to the national shortage and that Lisa's issue will have arisen due to the 'wholesale purchase attempt' - though Lisa says she didn't have any issues for the last three years.
A Lidl spokesperson said: "As a supermarket we want to ensure that all of our customers have access to the products they need, and we are therefore unfortunately not able to facilitate wholesale purchases.
"We thank shoppers for their understanding and consideration of other customers."
Tesco has followed Aldi, Asda and Morrisons in introducing customer limits on certain fresh produce as shortages leave supermarket shelves bare. The UK’s biggest supermarket has introduced a temporary buying limit of three items per customer on tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as a precautionary measure.
The supermarket said it was working hard with its suppliers to ensure a good supply of vegetables for customers in light of temporary supply challenges on some lines due to adverse weather conditions abroad. Aldi has placed limits on peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes as retailers warned the shortages – although expected to be temporary – were likely to last weeks.
An Aldi spokeswoman said: “We are limiting purchases of peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes to three units per person to ensure that as many customers as possible can buy what they need.” An initial shortage of tomatoes affecting UK supermarkets has since widened to other fruit and vegetables due to a combination of bad weather and transport problems in Africa and Europe.
Asda has introduced a customer limit of three on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, and Morrisons has set a limit of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers. Other supermarkets are understood to be considering similar temporary measures.
Growers and suppliers in Morocco have had to contend with cold temperatures, heavy rain, flooding and cancelled ferries over the past three to four weeks – all of which have affected the volume of fruit reaching Britain. Supplies from Britain’s other major winter source, Spain, have also been badly affected by weather.
