Elderly Coles shopper caught up in toilet paper tussle
A video of two women squabbling over toilet paper in a Coles supermarket has emerged online after police were called to a toilet paper fight at a Woolworths on Saturday morning.
“Day 4 of the apocalypse...” an Adelaide-based Instagram captioned the video, which was originally uploaded by Melbourne YouTuber, Jamie Zhu.
While Mr Zhu was walking around a supermarket asking people why they were rushing to get toilet paper he came across a fight in the aisle.
Two women can be seen physically fighting over a pack of toilet paper. While an elderly lady has the pack in her hands, the other woman has a trolley full of toilet paper.
It is not clear who picked up the packet first or how the fight escalated but footage of the altercation shows the elderly woman attempting to slap the other woman as the two wrestle over the toilet paper.
As the shopper with the trolley full of toilet paper grabs the elderly woman, other customers who are looking on intervene to help the woman keep the package.
Mr Zhu was among those who intervened and asked the women to “relax”.
“It’s toilet paper,” he exclaims, getting between the two women.
The elderly woman is seen clutching her toilet rolls as the other woman rolls her trolley-load down the aisle, muttering under her breath.
The fight, however, was not an isolated incident. Earlier this morning, NSW Police were called to an altercation which took place at a Woolworths in western Sydney, over toilet paper.
On Thursday, a man was tasered by police at a Big W store in Tamworth, after the 50-year-old man had an altercation about toilet paper with a staff member and customer.
Just a day before, police were investigating reports of a shopper pulling a knife out on another customer, once again in the toilet paper aisle of the store in Parramatta.
The string of altercations and incidents comes as coronavirus panic spreads faster than the disease itself, resulting in people hoarding goods.
Both Coles and Woolworths have imposed a temporary limit on the amount of toilet paper packs a person can purchase at one time with some customer calling for the limit to be stricter.
‘It's not the Thunderdome, it's not Mad Max’
Speaking at a press conference after the incident in western Sydney on Saturday morning, Acting Inspector Andrew New labelled the videos of people fighting over toilet paper as “bad behaviour”, saying there is no need for people to be panicking like they are.
“There is no need for people to go out and panic buy, at supermarkets, including toilet paper paracetamol and canned food,” he said.
“It's just bad behaviour by people that are panicking and there is just no need for any of that panic because there is sufficient supplies,” Insp New said on Saturday.
“It's not the Thunderdome, it's not Mad Max, we don't need to do that.”
Acting Inspector New noted it was important people understand in the event they are to self-isolate they remember the importance of family and friends who they can rely on to deliver items, and delivery services provided by supermarkets.
“A NSW Health advice says it’s practical for households to have a small stock of non-perishable groceries to cover the event that in the coming months households may be asked to self-isolate for those 14 days they have been told about.”
He also said he believes people are acting in such a way due to “uncertainty”, but assured the NSW Police would not be tolerating “this type of behaviour” under any circumstances.
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