A woman in Wales who went to Tesco was told she was not allowed to buy period products as they are banned as non-essential items.
The woman wrote on Twitter, “I’m raging & in tears @Tesco how the hell is beer essential and PERIOD PRODUCT are non essential.”
The incident happened at Tesco’s St Melons store in Cardiff on Monday morning.
Tesco said in a tweet that they had been told “by the Welsh government not to sell these items” during the two-week lockdown.
Tesco has since deleted the tweet and then apologised after Mark Drakeford’s government said that its advice was wrong.
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The Welsh Government tweeted in response. “This is wrong – period products are essential, supermarkets can still sell items that can be sold in pharmacies.
“Only selling essential items during firebreak is to discourage spending more time than necessary in shops.
“It should not stop you accessing items that you need.”
Residents in Wales will not be allowed to buy a jumper if they are cold or buy a lightbulb or any hardware from 6pm today, however, food shops, off-licences and pharmacies can stay open.
Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart has urged Drakeford to “scrap” the controversial “policy.”
The Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies called for Members of the Senedd to be recalled “virtually” to debate the current situation.
“This is absolute madness by the Welsh Government, preventing people from buying the products which they want to buy,” he said.
Head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, Sara Jones, said the government’s rules are confusing, and banning people from buying certain items has set a dangerous precedent.
Jones said, “I think this policy is the wrong way to go about it, because rather than levelling the playing field, it’s just creating winners and losers, it’s pushing people online,” she said.
She added, “It’s distorting competition, which I think is setting a bit of a dangerous precedent.”
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