Expat supermarket boss has 22,000 packets of Walkers DRIVEN 5,500 miles to Dubai to ensure his customers can still buy the British snack despite Strait of Hormuz closure
An expat supermarket boss is having thousands of Walkers crisps driven from the UK to the United Arab Emirates to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
Tom Harvey, the general commercial manager of Spinneys, a supermarket chain that imports British goods to the Gulf, is conducting a trial to import 22,000 bags of crisps and 9,500 packets of sweets from the UK into the UAE by road.
The company, which also has stores in Oman and Saudi Arabia, has been affected by the ongoing war in the region, which has seen Iran impose restrictions on cargo ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
A driver set off for Dubai in the lorry carrying the stock of crisps and sweets from the company's UK storage centre in Ashford, Middlesex, on Wednesday.
The 5,468-mile journey is expected to take around three weeks, with the lorry driving across 11 countries.
The snacks will be driven from Ashford to Kent before being taken on a ferry to France.
From there, the lorry will drive through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy before being loaded onto a boat to Egypt.
After crossing the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, the lorry will continue driving towards the UAE, where it will reach the supermarket chain's distribution centre, located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
A supermarket chain in the Gulf states is trialling a journey through 11 countries to transport products from Britain to the Middle East
Mr Harvey told The Telegraph: 'It is an unnerving time for people, and the psychological safety of being able to go into a store and see that it's very well stocked is very important to our consumers, but it's also important for us as a business, irrespective of what is going on in the wider world.
'We still have customers that we want to serve, that we need to serve, and we need to make sure that we have a viable business.
'The best way we can do that is to make sure that we've got all the products on our shelves that we know that our customers want to buy.'
Mr Harvey, a British expat who has been based in the UAE since 2017, added that he and his colleagues were exploring different supply routes, including the Dubai-Omani 'green corridor' launched earlier this month.
A six-pack of Walkers Assorted Flavours crisps costs the equivalent of around £5.15 at Spinney's.
So far, the supermarket chain has not passed on any extra costs to its customers, but this is under review.
Mr Harvey noted that the situation is changing daily and that the company is doing its best to mitigate inflation as much as possible.
It comes as Donald Trump faces mounting pressure to bring an end to the conflict in the Middle East.
Cargo ships and tankers are seen off coast city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz in the northern Emirate on February 25, 2026
Iran has blocked most cargo ships from using the Strait of Hormuz.
Traffic through the waterway, the world's most important artery for oil shipment, has fallen by 90 per cent since the start of the war last month, and has sent oil prices skyrocketing.
It has also inflicted alarming shortages on the Asian nations that get their oil from Persian Gulf countries via the Strait.
Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited since March 1, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence shipping information firm.
That’s a little more than one day’s normal traffic before the war.
Meanwhile, Iran and the US appeared to have hardened their positions over ceasefire talks on Thursday, setting the stage for more potential escalation in the Middle East.
Trump also extended his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to April 6.
Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles, and Gulf nations worked to intercept fire. Heavy strikes were reported in Iran's capital cities.
In a war that appears defined by who can take the most pain, the U.S. has offered shifting objectives, including ensuring Iran’s missile and nuclear programs are no longer a threat and ending Tehran’s support for armed groups in the region.
Washington at one point also pushed for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.
While the US-Israeli campaign has hit Iran’s military and government hard, killing top leaders and striking scores of targets, Iran continues to fire missiles, and there is no sign of an uprising against the government.
