SUPERMARKETS in and around Blackpool are fast running out of food stocks as panic buying to stock up on essential goods takes off.

One worker at the Safeway store on Amounderness Way, Cleveleys said it was like Christmas in September, adding: "It's absolutely horrendous. We have hardly a tin of beans on the shelf and pasta, soup, and teabags are flying off the shelves -- the aisles are decimated!"

She also reported that milk had run out and the instore bakers were working 24 hours to keep up supplies of bread.

Meanwhile Sainsburys in Redbank Road, Blackpool revealed customers are buying up stocks of bananas and long life milk, sliced loaves and potatoes have run out two days in a row. A spokesman said: "It's absolute panic -- people are scared and the number of customers has doubled."

And at the Asda superstore on Cherry Tree Road, Marton, staff restricted sales of milk to eight pints and three loaves per customer as a precautionary measure and to ensure all customers received their fair share.

They said their head office had confirmed deliveries to the store over the next few days, but if the crisis continues indefinitely it is only a matter of time before the shelves at all supermarkets are bare.