York supermarkets have assured shoppers there is no need to stockpile food to avoid shortages over Christmas and the Millennium period.

The stores claim months of preparation mean there is little chance of shelves being left empty.

But they recommend shopping early to avoid congestion.

Iain Carruthers, duty manager of Sainsburys' Foss Island store, said: "We have been preparing for the Millennium for the past four years and it will be business as usual.

"We expect a huge demand for things like champagne and we are confident we have more than enough to suffice all the demand."

He said all suppliers had been told they must be Millennium compliant to ensure no problems caused by the Millennium bug.

His confidence follows a report in a national newspaper that every household in Britain will be urged this week to stockpile emergency rations.

Mr Carruthers denied that would happen.

He said: "There has been a lot of market research done and we have been listening to what our customers tell us, and we feel confident that the supply chain will hold up."

Opening hours of the stores have yet to be confirmed, but Mr Carruthers said Sainsbury's would close for no more than two days over the New Year period.

Richard Woodhall, general store manager of the Monks Cross branch of Asda, said: "The whole shopping experience over Christmas and New Year is going to be very busy and all we are saying is try to be sensible and spread your shopping."

A spokesman for Tesco at Clifton Moor said: "I am certainly not aware of anything that has been said to urge customers to stock up."

But Michael Stampfer, a member of Millennium group Community Action Network who urged residents of his home village Terrington to stock up nearly two years ago, said levels of disruption were unknown.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.