IKEA are on the way

Drapper

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1170489,00.html

A midnight sale to mark the opening of an Ikea furniture superstore has degenerated into chaos and violence.


Up to 6,000 people converged on Ikea's newest and biggest branch in Edmonton, north London, many abandoning their cars and walking after traffic ground to a standstill.

In the rush to get at the bargains, around 500 shoppers, including some children, were pushing to get through the doors. Some were crushed and suffered heat exhaustion.

Fighting broke out and six people were taken to hospital.

Sofas at the store were on sale for as little as £40.

The store was closed after just half-an-hour.

Witness Jolene Cooper told Sky News: "It was horrible. I was really scared, really, really, scared. I felt my ribs going, I was looking upwards and praying.

"There was no control, not one bit of control"

Ikea said it had consulted police but the numbers of people who turned up far exceeded expectations.

Ikea UK deputy country manager John Olie said: "We didn't predict this at all. We've opened 12 stores in the UK and we've had opening offers before.

"We purposefully stretched this over 24 hours so we didn't have too much pressure and we took advice from the emergency services. The volumes just far overwhelmed us."

He added that people pushing into queues from all directions had led to the problems.

A police spokeswoman later confirmed that a man in his 20s was stabbed in the area - not at the store - at about 1.30am on Thursday.




Should be great craic at the sales in Dublin !!!

tba

Drapper wrote:

Should be great craic at the sales in Dublin !!!

GET YER BLEEDIN HANDS OF ME SOFFAA MISSUS!

This reminds me of the book Jennifer Goverment what with the massive savings and the riots.