UK’s hottest June: ‘The population should have been prepared for this’

London, United Kingdom – “At midnight yesterday, the temperature in my home was 31 degrees, which I could not control,” said Bijal Shah, a pharmacist who has spent the past fortnight trying and failing to buy a portable air conditioning unit or even an industrial fan to cool his five-month-old grandson who is unwell. Some cooling items have waits of two to three weeks for delivery, a real challenge for families like his who are caring for someone vulnerable. Recommended Stories list of 4 items end of list It is a small but telling detail in a week when Britain has broken a June heat record that had stood since 1976. A homeless person sleeps in a shaded London doorway amid record high temperatures [Toby Melville/Reuters The mercury hit 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, the hottest day of the month ever recorded in the UK. The Met Office has a red extreme heat warning running across large areas of southern England and there is a possibility that temperatures could reach 40C before the week is out. “We’ve not had a surge in enquiries or requests for prescription deliveries,” said Shah from behind the counter in his air conditioned pharmacy, as he dispenses supplements to a heavily pregnant lady keeping cool with a fan around her neck. “Not as much as I thought we would have”. More than 1,000 schools across southern England have shut early or closed entirely this week. …