A NATIONWIDE shortage of Walkers crisps appears to have hit Barrow.

Shelves usually well-stocked with the brand's products were much barer in the town's Tesco supermarket, pictures show.

The images showed several flavours out of stock in the supermarket's crisp aisle and meal deal section.

Unlike supply chain problems seen in recent weeks that have affected everything from petrol supplies to Haribo and McDonald’s in the run-up to Christmas, the lack of potato-based goods is not being caused by the UK’s shortage of HGV drivers.

Instead, a technical glitch discovered as the company was upgrading its computer systems seems to be to blame for the snack shortages.

Walkers has apologised over the issues.

A Walkers spokesperson said: "A recent IT system upgrade has disrupted the supply of some of our products. Our sites are still making crisps and snacks, but at a reduced scale.

"We're doing everything we can to increase production and get people's favourites back on shelves. We're very sorry for the inconvenience caused." 

The company has said the problems have now been fixed, but they have caused its factories to run below full production.