Shoppers queue in sweltering heat to buy bargain Lidl air conditioning unit
Huge queues were seen snaking outside supermarkets on Thursday as Britons tried to get their hands on discounted air conditioning units.
The record for the hottest day in June has been broken for the second time in a row and is estimated to be broken again on Friday.
Temperatures of 40 degrees are expected in parts of Norfolk and Suffolk on Friday afternoon, which will exceed the record of 36.7 degrees set in Merryfield, Somerset, yesterday.
In a bid to cool down, dozens of people lined up in a Lidl car park in Southampton on Thursday morning to try to buy discounted £149 air conditioning units.
One customer shared a video of herself racing through Lidl to buy an air conditioning unit, only to find they were all sold out.
He said he queued up from 7.30am and there were at least 50 people behind him. But even after visiting several supermarkets, he was unable to purchase an air conditioning unit.
But extreme heat isn’t the only thing causing Lidl fan sales to soar this week, with retailers reporting unprecedented sales.
Electric fans accounted for 17 percent of online sales between Tuesday and Thursday this week, up from the norm of around 2 percent, Lakeland said.
The home goods retailer said sales of electric fans were up 600 percent week over week from Tuesday to Thursday.
Toolstation reported Thursday that cooling fan sales were up 333 percent on a weekly basis, while air conditioner sales were up 220 percent.
The retailer said sales of outdoor watering accessories, including hoses, were up 38 percent, while sales of water fountains were up 37 percent.
The figures come after a hosepipe ban was imposed in Kent at a time when demand for water was rising, schools and nurseries remained closed, transport services were disrupted and a railway operator warned people not to go on beach trips due to extreme heat.
A red warning against extreme heat will be issued for London, South East England and East England until 21:00.
The Met Office said the heat would be accompanied by “high humidity further exacerbating the potential for discomfort and health impacts”.
