LONDON (Reuters) - London's Metropolitan Police are in the pink after securing a supply of hand sanitizer from the city's gin distilleries to help keep their "bobbies on the beat" safe.
Hand sanitizer, whose main ingredient is alcohol, is in short supply as Britons stock up on it to avoid coronavirus, so the police turned to the capital's breweries and distilleries for help.
Portobello Road Gin, in Notting Hill, 58 Gin Ltd, based in Haggerston, east London, and Copper Rivet Distillery in Chatham, in nearby Kent, stepped up to the challenge to make a hand sanitizer using a formula from the World Health Organization.
The Metropolitan Police - the biggest in Britain with more than 31,500 officers - will now receive their first deliveries at the start of April, while brewer Budweiser has also agreed to donate 6,000 liters of hand sanitizer to the police.
"Hand sanitizer is an essential item for our officers and staff, especially those on the frontline," said Mark Roberts, the police's director of commercial services. "So I am extremely grateful to all of the suppliers who have agreed to work with us and provide us with this vital commodity."