A trend saying “Christmas Is Cancelled” has occupied Twitter recently as the lorry driver shortage worsening. Resultantly, the retailers are unable to cope up with their supplies for Christmas. Hence, Brits are in fear that Christmas might get cancelled yet again. Here is more about the viral “Christmas Is Cancelled” trend.
In the initial year of the Corona Pandemic, the locked-down Brits were informed that they can only spend a single day with their loved ones staying elsewhere. This sudden news turned the festive plans into chaos.
In the current year also, the retailers have warned that shortages may continue throughout this year as well. This whole scenario depicts that the hopes for happy holidays may not last any longer.
According to some recent reports, Britain has a 100,000 shortfall of HGV drivers. It is also reported that around 14,000 European drivers left during the pandemic and are yet to return. Hence, the supermarket giants are in a panic as it takes around 18 months to train a lorry driver.
What does Christmas Is Cancelled mean?
The viral trend on Twitter, “Christmas Is Cancelled” drives the attention of people towards the shortages that are going to occur throughout this year. This whole issue is rising just because of the lack of lorry drivers.
The Chief Executive for Iceland, Richard Walker has also talked about the issue, saying the shortage of lorry drivers is causing the major issues in deliveries. While talking to BBC, Richard Walker said, “The reason for sounding the alarm now is that we’ve already had one Christmas cancelled at the last minute. I’d hate this one to be problematic as well.”
“We start to stock-build from September onwards for what is a hugely important time of year. We’ve got a lot of goods to transport between now and Christmas and a strong supply chain is vital for everyone”, he further added.
Also, the boss of Co-Op has addressed this issue saying the “grocery shortages are reaching “chronic” levels and are still worsening.”
After knowing about this whole scenario, people on Twitter have expressed their fear about festive shortages.
Christmas Is Cancelled Meaning
Fearing about the upcoming shortages, Tesco chairman, John Allan said, “Normally the supermarket industry would start building stocks from now in readiness for Christmas. Longer-life products first, things like Christmas puddings and so on, shorter-life products, like fresh turkeys, very late in the day.
“At the moment we’re running very hard just to keep on top of the existing demand and there isn’t the capacity to build stocks that we’d like to see.”
Considering the issue, John Lewis has increased the drivers’ pay by up to £5,000 a year and is offering recruits “golden hellos” of £1,000.
News of the shortfall of Turkeys is also flaunting on the Internet. According to a Turkey farm owner, Paul Kelly, they have a shortage of workers this year hence they aren’t able to meet the demand.
Other poultry farmers are also facing the same issue and they will therefore produce 20% fewer turkeys this Christmas.
The supplier issues have also led to shortages of supplies to fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Nandos and KFC. McDonald’s is suffering from a drink shortage. Nandos has also closed more than 50 restaurants following the shortage of chicken supplies.
Some other companies facing this issue are Greggs and Costa Coffe. They have reduced their menu because of the same issue.
Twitter users have given strong reactions to the issue. One user on Twitter wrote, “No one will go hungry because of it, much less lose weight. Christmas won’t be cancelled. But the great British supply chain screw-up is symptomatic, avoidable and — especially where the government’s response is concerned — embarrassing.”
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Concluding Remarks
This was the backstory of the viral Twitter trend “Christmas Is Cancelled”. Hopefully, the article has provided all the information you needed to know.