A TROWBRIDGE healthcare worker has launched a one-woman protest about shoppers panic-buying during the coronavirus crisis.

Sam Kyle, 43, has put two banners on the County Way footbridge near the Tesco superstore urging people not to be greedy.

One of the home-made banners says ‘Panic buying is selfish’, while the other says ‘We all need to eat’.

Sam, who lives in Hilperton, said: “I have done this because I think that people are buying too much and everyone is taking things out of context.

“It’s counter-productive. We all need to eat and panic buying is not going to stop the coronavirus. It just means that some people go without food.

“Clearing supermarket shelves is not going to prevent the coronavirus. It just means that some people are going to go hungry.

“My protest is not aimed at people who are buying for people who are self-isolating. It’s aimed at people who are being greedy and making a bad situation even worse.”

Ms Kyle said she has recently finished shifts in her role as a healthcare worker and visited the supermarket only to find the shelves stripped bare of essential items.

“I couldn’t buy toilet rolls, nappies for my son Iolo, cat food, bread and pasta.

“Every shelf was empty, one of the only things left was Corona beer. I think it’s absolute madness.”

But she had hardly finished tying her banners to the footbridge railings before two Trowbridge PCSOs appeared and asked her to take it down.

One said: “You will have to take it down, it’s a distraction to drivers.

“We don’t disagree with what you are doing but it will cause other issues.”