Toilet paper is 'like gold': Coronavirus fears create queues out the door at grocery shops

Queues at Aldi this morning for toilet paper. Photo / Twitter

One man queued for almost two hours to buy toilet paper while another arrived at his grocery store at 5am and still got caught in crowds.

The toilet paper crisis gripping Australia has reached new levels, with one man waiting in a queue for almost two hours to buy toilet paper.

Sydney father Irfan Virk found himself waiting in an Aldi checkout queue this morning … for almost two hours.

"I usually shop on Sunday mornings because it's the quietest time. But not today," Virk told news.com.au.

He arrived at Sydney's Winston Hills Mall at 9am, 30 minutes after it opened.

"When I walked in hordes of people walking out with packs of toilet roll," he said.

"Within half an hour everything was gone."

Virk left the store a whopping 1.5 hours later, thanks to the queues.

"There were two checkout queues – each queue had at least 20 people."

"It was not just that (toilet paper), all the long-life milk was out, some canned food was gone."

He said he tweeted about the long queue "Not to create alarm, but to ridicule the situation."

"We're just a small family, we hardly use any toilet paper, compared to others.

"People seem to be more panicked than they should be."

Queues at Aldi this morning for toilet paper #toiletpaperpanic #ToiletPaperApocalypse #toiletpaperwars pic.twitter.com/Dvh7Kt8imF

— Irfan Virk (@irfanvirk) March 7, 2020

150 PEOPLE QUEUE BEFORE 6AM

Eli Richards was down to his last roll of toilet paper Sunday morning so he arrived at his local Coles in Taylors Hill, Melbourne, at 5.50am, ten minutes before it opened.

He was shocked to find he wasn't alone.

"There were a good 150 people there. The queue up was quite extreme," Mr Richards told news.com.au.

"And more people started getting behind me."

Mr Richards said that around 100 people were in front of him in the queue, which meant they would have arrived around at 5am to get the prime spots.

"I couldn't believe it when I got there," Richards said.

5.55 in the morning at Taylors Hill, Melbourne. Photo / Twitter

Queues at Aldi this morning for toilet paper. Photo / Twitter

"It was insane."

All week, Australians have been panic buying toilet paper of all things, despite experts warning them that it is an "ill conceived" way to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

Today, Coles announced new limitations on toilet paper purchases, which Richards experienced first hand.

"When the doors at six on the dot opened they (staff) made it quite clear: only one pack per customer," he said.

"There was a security guard and a number of staff standing around.

"Some people had grabbed trolleys and others started saying, 'Put your trolleys away, you don't need them'," he said.

Richards likened the situation to a Boxing Day advertisement where customers stream into the shop once it opened.

It was "definitely a stampede," he said.

"We all bee-lined for that aisle."

On Saturday, a fight erupted in a Sydney Woolworths store as shoppers fought over limited toilet paper. The two women have since been charged.

"Luckily, there was no pushing or shoving (this morning)," Richards said.

"We all remained civil."

He grabbed a pack of toilet paper straight off a pallet, which had not yet been unloaded from the delivery.

"If I'd rocked up there at 7am it would have been by a different story," he said.

"I doubt there's anything left right now. It's like gold."

"I'm never awake at that time normally – it's a Sunday morning," he said with a laugh.

"The only reason I went is because toilet paper is an essential item. For days and days and days we haven't been able to get it.

"There's a difference between needing it and stockpiling it. I didn't go to stockpile it. I just really needed it. Otherwise I don't know what we would have done."

Mr Richards dubbed his early morning shopping a "reconnaissance mission to get toilet paper".

"All this hysteria has really gotten out of control," he added.

Fiona Leung and Cyrus San stock up on Toilet paper. Photo / News Corp Australia