A BOLTON-based toilet and kitchen roll supplier is stockpiling millions of rolls in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

Wepa, whose UK office is based in Newspaper House in Churchgate, has stockpiled three-and-a-half million rolls, amounting to 600 tonnes, to safeguard supplies in the event of the UK crashing out of the European Union without an agreement.

The German firm, which counts Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco among its clients, has also purchased an additional 60,000 sq ft of warehouse space to house the stock.

Wepa’s UK managing director, Mike Docker, said the company started making preparations last August.

He explained: “If the worst happens and there is a no-deal Brexit then there will be significant delays at the borders. If that is the case, we want to make sure we have enough stock in the UK to service customers.”

In a bid to avoid any delays at ports, Wepa has also begun chartering ships to transport its stock rather than trucks.

Mr Docker said: “We actually started working on that because it was a green exercise, and we thought it would be good to take some trucks off the road.

“We then realised it could be a real Brexit buster so expedited that project.

While Wepa have not witnessed an upsurge in demand for products from clients, Mr Docker is optimistic that the company will be able to cope in the event of no-deal Brexit.

“We have planned for this so I do not think we will have any issues,” he said. “But had we not, it could have quite a large impact.”