Frenzied UK shoppers clash on Black Friday

UK Police called for calm after responding to calls at seven Tesco stores where clashes erupted between frenzied shoppers, at which three men were arrested and a woman was hit by a falling tele­vision set, Evening Times reported.

According to the police, the issues were "totally predictable" and the response from shop security left it "disappointed". Tesco said the incidents involved only a "small number" of stores.

In Glasgow, police had to be called to manage crowds in supermarkets as hundreds of customers flocked to midnight sales.

Tesco stores at some places had to shut for a while as shoppers physically slugged it out to grab discounted goods.

A statement from Police Scotland's Tayside division said, "The Tesco Extra, Kingsway West has been closed due to excessive numbers attending to purchase sale items.This decision was made by Tesco staff to ensure the safety of all customers."

The Black Friday discounted shopping event, which originated in the US was fast becoming a major UK shopping carnival.

According to projections by Visa, UK shoppers would spend £518 million online on cards, which would make it the country's biggest internet shopping day in history.

Meanwhile, mirror.co.uk reported that UK retailers were hoping for more Black Friday shopping opportunities.

A number of big names including ASDA were extending their bargain offers today after more than 2 million people visited its stores yesterday, which led to chaos and violence in some branches over discounted TVs.

Meanwhile, online retailers were preparing their systems for similar success on 'Cyber Monday', another American consumer sales event adopted by the UK.
Shoppers struggled to access the websites of Tesco Direct, Currys, Argos and GAME yesterday amid huge demand.

One of the UK's most senior police officers slammed retailers for their handling of the crowds, which according to eyewitnesses created scenes similar to a "a war zone" as bargain-hunters behaved "like animals".

According to Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, whose force appealed to shoppers to "keep calm", the events were "totally predictable" and he was "disappointed stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty".

"This created situations where we had to deal with crushing, disorder and disputes between customers," he said.