A supermarket in Manchester has left some locals agape after pictures emerged showing staff piling heaps of fresh produce into waste carts after fridges failed on Monday night.
It is understood that some refrigeration units at Tesco in Stretford failed on Monday after a day of soaring temperatures across the region brought highs of over 35C.
Images shared with The Manc show large amounts of food being emptied out of fridges and dumped into wire carts at Stretford Tesco as aisles were blocked off.
After speaking with customers who were there, The Manc understands that much of this produce was marked as waste and then thrown away.
This is in line with existing hygiene regulations, which mean that food that hasn’t been able to be stored at the correct temperatures must be removed from sale – either to additional cool space or to be disposed of entirely .
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Still, some who witnessed it were left in shock at the amount of food being wasted at a time when many are struggling to feed their families.
A customer who wished to remain anonymous told The Manc: “Stretford Tesco’s fridges broke and they were piling the contents of every fridge into trolleys to bin it all.
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“I felt sick. There wasn’t a single fridge with stuff in and it’s a giant Tesco.”
Image: The Manc Group
They added: “We thought maybe the temperature was too warm in there and it brought the temperatures of the fridges up too much to be able to keep things at the right temperature.”
Elsewhere, at another large Tesco store in Prestwich, produce was seen being taken out of freezers but staff told customers that it was not being thrown away but rather stored in the back to keep it cool.
— MazeofDeception (NO TO DIGITAL ID) (@MazeofDeception) July 18, 2022
Images shared on Twitter suggest that the problem is not unique to Manchester but is happening across the country, with some social media users speculating that thousands of pounds worth of produce has been binned as a result.
One user wrote: “All the fridges and freezers in the big Tesco have stopped working due to the heat #BigTroubleInBigTesco.”
It is not the first time that such an issue has occurred at the supermarket, with similar reports often cropping up in previous years whenever there has been a surge in temperatures.
Legally here in the UK, supermarkets are well within their rights to destroy unsold food but some campaigners have argued that the law should be changed to make such food waste illegal.
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According to food waste charity Fairbite, 250,000 tons of food is thrown away in the UK each year by supermarkets whilst at the same time some citizens find themselves facing hunger as they do not have the money to feed themselves.
In France, there are new laws on fighting food waste that mean French supermarkets are forbidden from destroying unsold food products and are instead compelled to donate it to charities.
Image: The Manc Group
Since this law was introduced in France in 2016, food poverty campaigners in the UK have argued that similar measures should be adopted here to prevent edible food being wasted when millions of people are going hungry.
According to the Food Foundation, a total of 7.3 million adults and 2.6 million children experienced food poverty in April 2022.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “Some refrigeration and freezer units at our Stretford Extra store are currently being worked on at by our maintenance teams who will get them back up and running as soon as possible.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Feature image – The Manc Group
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Six teenage boys arrested following stabbing of 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre
Emily Sergeant
Six teenage boys have been arrested following the stabbing of a 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre over the weekend.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that officers were called out to reports of a ‘serious assault’ near the Riverside Shopping Centre in central Rochdale on Saturday (29 August), and when they arrived on the scene, they found that a 13-year-old boy had been stabbed.
The young boy currently remains in hospital receiving treatment, while a police investigation into the incident is open and ongoing.
Two teenage boys were first arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article on the same day the incident occurred (29 August), but have since been released on bail.
Officers then made four further arrests yesterday (31 August), again all teenage boys who were arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article, with enquires ongoing.
A Section 60 and 60AA ‘stop and search’ authority was introduced in Rochdale town centre following the recent incidents in area and following reports of youths carrying weapons in the locality, and this has now been extended to 3pm today (Tuesday 1 September).
“This was a serious and sustained attack that could have had far more tragic consequences,” explained Detective Superintendent, Richard Hunt .”Our team of experienced detectives is working around the clock to understand exactly what happened, identify all those involved, and secure the strongest possible evidence.
“We will relentlessly pursue every lead available to us and will leave no stone unturned in bringing all those responsible before the courts.
“Community safety remains our absolute priority, and we are committed to ensuring those who seek to bring violence onto our streets are held fully accountable for their actions.”
Can you help? Anyone who witnessed the incident, was in the town centre at the time, or has any mobile phone, CCTV, or dashcam footage, is urged to come forward and speak to police on 101, quoting log 2750 of 29/08/2026, or using the LiveChat function on the GMP website.
Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Featured Image – GMP
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High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Georgina Pellant -
19th July 2022 
