Seeking cold comfort

TABLE salt, thermal underwear and hot water bottles are flying off supermarket shelves as forecasters warn the harshest winter weather for 30 years will last for another 10 days.

Figures from Tesco show table salt sales are up 90% this week when compared to the start of December with the supermarket chain selling 74 tonnes of salt over the last four weeks.

As shoppers adjust to freezing temperatures, demand for hot water bottles has increased by 20% while thermal underwear sales are up 17%. Sales of firelogs and firelighters are also up 150%.