Metropolitan Police called as chicken shortage causes KFC branches to close

Hungry Londoners have been calling the police as a chicken shortage has caused some branches of KFC to close.

More than 600 of the takeaway chain’s 900 stores were forced to close as a new delivery contract with DHL sparked chicken shortages across the country.

Frustrated customers resorted to calling the police or contacting their local MPs, with Tower Hamlets MPS tweeting that fried chicken is “not a police matter”.

Police were not able to say exactly how many calls they had received about KFC, but warned the public against wasting police time.

A spokesperson for Met Police said: “(The) Tweet was gentle reminder that nuisance calls are not welcome but detract from responses needed for serious calls to police.”

Bermondsey MP Neil Coyle said constituents had also been contacting him about the restaurant, tweeting: “I’ve been contacted by disappointed #KFC customers on Borough High Street.”

KFC expects disruption to some restaurants to continue for the rest of the week.

Social media users have been voicing their despair at the chicken shortage, with some calling the closures an “apocalypse”, or dubbing the incident “the great KFC crisis of ’18”.

A KFC spokesman said: “We’ve brought a new delivery partner on board, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems, getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex!

“We anticipate the number of closures will reduce today and over the coming days as our teams work flat out all hours to clear the backlog.”

KFC has now set up a page on its website where customers can check for their nearest open restaurant.