German supplier stockpiles toilet roll to ensure a kitten-soft Brexit

One of the UK's biggest suppliers of toilet and kitchen roll has been stockpiling about 3.5 million rolls in UK warehouses in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

The German company Wepa said it had been storing an extra 600 tonnes of toilet and kitchen roll in the last three to four months to safeguard supplies in Britain, in case the UK crashes out of the EU without an agreement on March 29th.

The company has also built six weeks’ supplies of the cardboard core used inside toilet and kitchen rolls, as this cannot be sourced from the UK in sufficient quantities and is imported from EU countries in eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

We've been planning for Brexit since August last year to make sure we maintain our levels of service

The firm has also decided to charter ships to take toilet and kitchen roll from a supplier in Naples to Swansea, rather than relying on trucks carrying its products via the Calais-Dover route.

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Preparations

Wepa is the latest company to unveil its preparations for a no-deal Brexit. Businesses ranging from car manufacturers to supermarkets and pharmaceutical firms have been stockpiling products and components as well as revising their supply routes. They fear that customs checks introduced after a no-deal Brexit would lead to lengthy delays and drive up the cost of materials.

Wepa's UK managing director, Mike Docker, said: "The industry is pretty reliant on imports. We've been planning for Brexit since August last year to make sure we maintain our levels of service. What we've concentrated on is a hard Brexit. That's the worst-case scenario for us, where we'd probably see major delays at the border."

– Guardian service