Black Friday frenzy: Man arrested as shoppers across the UK fight it out for the best bargains with shelves cleared in just ONE MINUTE

 

• Male shopper arrested following a row at Asda store in Bristol this morning
• Trouble flared up when man, 35, was told he couldn't buy two 60-inch TVs
• Frenzied shoppers across the country clear shelves within minutes
• Televisions, DVD players, phones and tablets discounted by up to 70%
• 'They were like locusts. It was madness,' one witness said
• 'It was like a pack of savages looking for a bargain,' said another

By Lizzie Edmonds
  A male shopper has been arrested at an Asda store during the Black Friday scramble for cut-price goods which has seen bargain hunters behaving 'like savages'.
These extraordinary pictures show the man being tackled and then wrestled to the ground by security guards at the store in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol.
He was arrested following a row over two 60-inch televisions as thousands of people across the country bombarded stores selling discounted DVD players, phones and tablets.

Arrest: A shopper has been arrested after a row broke out at the Asda store in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol

Held: The male shopper, who was trying to buy two 60-inch televisions, was restrained by security and staff members at the store this morning

Eyewitnesses said trouble flared up when staff told the man, 35, was only allowed to buy one of each product.
He was escorted from the store by security guards and was finally restrained by five members of staff - with one employee suffering a cut face.
One witness said: 'He was being told by staff at Asda that he wasn't allowed to buy two TVs,
'Security then escorted him and he was arguing and filming them on his mobile phone when it was knocked out of his hand.
'He ended up being carted off handcuffed in a police car but it was the security guards who got physical.'
Officers from Avon and Somerset Police arrived at the store and arrested a man.

Frenzy: Hundreds of shoppers grab for cut price electrical bargains at an Asda superstore in Benton, North Tyneside this morning, where the shelves were cleared within a minute

Grab: Crowds of bargain hunters waited outside the store from around 6am - with the event starting at 8am

WHAT WAS ON SALE

Asda were offering discounts on over 500,000 products in 350 stores, including:
LG 42” Plasma TV
Black Friday price: £249
Original price: £459
Polaroid 32” LED TV 
Black Friday price: £99
Original price: £179
Cyclone Explorer 7” Tablet
Black Friday price: £49
Original price: £89
Little Tikes Cozy Coupe
Black Friday price: £29
Original Price £59
Little Tikes Play Kitchen 
Black Friday price: £38
Original price: £169

A police spokesman said: 'We were called to Asda to reports a security guard had been assaulted.
'He suffered a cut to the face but declined an ambulance. A 35-year-old man was detained and remains in custody.'
At a store in Benton, North Tyneside, hundreds of frenzied shoppers made a grab for cut price electrical bargains - with the shelves cleared in just one minute.
According to one witness, there was an orderly queue outside the store - where tablets were on sale for just £49 - from around 6am this morning. 
But when the clocks stuck 8am - chaos descended.
Shoppers were frantically snatching products from the shelves with men and women piling into each other in a mad scramble to snatch bargains.
A shopper described scenes at the store as 'horrific' and said shoppers were like 'a pack of savages looking for a bargain.'

Mad dash: Shoppers enjoyed up to 70 per cent discounts of electrical items - such as televisions, tablets and phones. Many filled their trolleys with the cut-price goods

Good buy: Tablets were selling for just £49 and Samsung phones for £99 at the event

Margaret Green, 55, from North Tyneside, said: 'It was bedlam, chaos. It was absolutely jam-packed. It wasn't a great queuing system. People started taking the black sheets off themselves, then in was mayhem.
'People grabbed what they could. There was no ticketing system.
'They did have staff at the 32 inch TVs but I didn't see any staff where the tablets and the phones were.

Elsewhere: Meanwhile, at Asda in Leyton, East London shoppers were also enjoying cut-price bargains

Queues at the checkout: Electrical items were gone within 2 minutes at the Leyton event - originally an American tradition to encourage Christmas spending

'There were big fights at the tablets and the phones. It was horrific. It was like a pack of savages looking for a bargain.
'I was ashamed to be English to be honest. People had more than one item. They had two or three TVs or tablets in their trollies.
'I saw one person take a phone out of somebody else's basket. There was lots of screaming and shouting. I'm surprised there weren't people on the floor. I found it disgusting. It was horrific.'

Barren: Shelves once full of televisions and DVD players laid empty this morning

Festive: Until recently, Black Friday was an American tradition. However numerous British stores have this year slashed their prices to encourage Christmas spending

Early risers: Successful shoppers leave the Asda store in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, with a hoard of goods

One shopper filled his trolley with two 32inch flat screen TV's that were only £99 before abandoning his bounty in search of other slashed-price items.
Another witness said: 'They were like locusts - shoppers were coming in from everywhere.
'It was madness. It was over within a matter of minutes.'
Added security guards were present for the Black Friday event - an American custom where stores cut their prices for 24 hours on the day after Thanksgiving.

Asda price: Shoppers leave the Bristol store with a flat screen television balanced on top of their trolly

Happy shoppers: Bargain hunters take their new TVs to their cars in Plymouth, Devon

Squeeze: Shoppers struggle to get their purchases, including televisions and children's toys, into their car

Meanwhile, hundreds of people were waiting to get their hands on televisions, DVD players and other goods at the supermarket in Leyton, East London this morning.

When the store opened its doors at 8am the bargain hunters certainly didn't wait around - with all electrical items selling out within two minutes.
Incredible pictures show checkouts swamped with people holding boxes of reduced products.

Deserted: Black Friday fever has clearly not reached the Victoria Quarter in Leeds - which was virtually shopper-free this morning

Not good for business: The brand-new Trinity centre in the city was also quiet this morning

In Bristol a number of successful shoppers were attempting to pile a range of goods into their cars throughout the afternoon.
However, some locations had not been hit with Black Friday fever - with several shopping areas in Leeds completely deserted.
Black Friday - the biggest day in America’s festive shopping calendar - has well and truly arrived in the UK to kick off the pre-Christmas rush.

Bargains: There will be huge discounts available in numerous British stores today - some pictured

Snap them up! John Lewis, House of Fraser and Asos.com are among the brands cutting their prices

With discounts of up to 70 per cent on everything from flatscreen TVs to party shoes, it is hoped the discount day will get shoppers in the mood to spend.
The event has crept across the Atlantic over the past few years as U.S. giants such as Amazon and Apple have sought to include the UK in the shopping frenzy.
This year British stores such as John Lewis and Debenhams have joined in - slashing their prices for one day only.

£4.4BILLION TO BE SPENT ONLINE THIS WEEKEND IN CYBER SUNDAY RUSH

Sofa Sunday has taken over from Cyber Monday as the most popular day for online Christmas shopping in Britain, according to a new report.
Leading retailers say this year Sunday will be the busiest day for online orders.
The first Monday of December was previously the most hectic day on the Internet.
It is predicted that £4.4billion will be spent by an estimated 30 million shoppers this weekend alone.
This weekend, workers will also have received their last monthly salary before Christmas.
Almost 50per cent of browsing will be between 7pm - 11pm, while we watch peak-time TV in a new trend known as 'second screening', according to online lifestyle site Notonthehighstreet. 

Previously Internet shoppers would compile their chosen list of gifts over the weekend and place orders on their desk computers when they got to work on Monday, their report suggests.
Holly Tucker, chief executive of Notonthestreet.com said yesterday: 'Monday has always been our busiest day, with typically 30% more browsers than on a Sunday, but, in the pre-Christmas build up we've seen 25% more Sunday shoppers than on a Monday - for the first time ever.
'Our analysts are predicting that this Sunday will again top Monday in the rush to buy gifts following the last pay day before Christmas.It appears this year's Christmas shopping is being done from the sofa in front of the telly.'
High Street chain Debenhams backed the findings. Spokesperson Elena Antoniou said: 'Sundays are now our busiest day online.
'With many people receiving their last pay packet before Christmas this weekend we are expecting to see them to start their festive shopping in earnest. Online shoppers were once stuck in the spare room on a desk top, now they shop online from the sofa with tablets, smartphones and laptops, while still keeping an eye on the TV.'

Preparations: Employees select and dispatch items in the huge Amazon 'fulfilment centre' warehouse in Peterborough

Industry observers say that habits have changed because of the phenomenal growth in the use of handheld tablets and smart phone to order goods from Internet sites.
Last Cyber Monday  - December 3 2012 - Amazon said they saw more than 3.5 million items ordered on their website, at a rate of around 41 items per second.
That meant that a delivery lorry packed with Cyber Monday orders left one of Amazon's eight UK fulfilment centres every two minutes and 10 seconds.
In preparation, Amazon.co.uk is hiring more than 15,000 people across the UK for seasonal positions in its fulfilment and customer service centres this Christmas period.
The online retailer predict the Kindle will be the best-selling item this festive period, with other favourites including the PlayStation 4 and the Game of Thrones box set.