THE summer heatwave saw many people turn to the internet for a bit of late night shopping, according to new research.

The number of shoppers logging on to stock up on their groceries between the hours of midnight and 6am, has leapt by 73 per cent, sales figures from supermarket Tesco reveal.

Tesco also reports that the heat has had an effect upon the sort of goods ordered at night too.

Besides large quantities of soft drinks, beers and ice packs, the most commonly ordered item is greaseproof paper followed by toilet rolls, cooking utensils, silver foil and tomato ketchup. Tesco say this is because sleepless shoppers are finally getting time to think of all the items which are often forgotten during a normal weekly shop.