Panic at the sales
Oxford St crowds smash window to flee stampede Gun police swoop at mall to break up fighting gangs
THE Boxing Day sales descended into chaos yesterday as panic broke out at two packed shopping destinations.
At least one person was left covered in blood as hundreds fled a House of Fraser store – falsely believing they had heard gunfire.
Meanwhile, one of the country’s biggest shopping centres was partially closed after gangs of youths clashed in front of horrified bargain hunters.
At the House of Fraser store, on London’s Oxford Street, some shoppers desperately smashed a window to escape and a woman was injured in the stampede. Armed police rushed to the scene shortly before 5pm.
A store employee said a ‘commotion’ had caused customers to panic.
She added: ‘A fire alarm went off and people started running. A group decided to smash the window to get out. I saw a woman in a wheelchair and her face was covered in blood.’
The police said the woman’s injuries were ‘non life-threatening’ and there was nothing to indicate that ‘any criminal offences have occurred’.
In a separate incident, part of the packed Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London, was closed off after a brawl among teenagers.
Police were called just after 2.30pm. A man was arrested for having an offensive weapon.
One woman wrote on Twitter: ‘Not entirely sure whether it was a prank or gang fight but all I know is [it] was the most terrifying experience of my life.’
Armed police broke up the clashes and held teenagers back as shoppers fled. A Westfield spokesman said the ‘minor disturbance’ had been ‘resolved’. He insisted the centre had not been evacuated and was trading as normal last night.
Despite the chaos, shoppers across the country were on track to spend a record £4.3billion yesterday. International customers – encouraged by the weaker pound and cheap flights – were boosting sales.
In Scotland, more than 500 shoppers were lined up outside Edinburgh’s Fort Kinnaird shopping centre from 4am – with the earliest person arriving an hour earlier.
The centre estimated about 85,000 people would visit yesterday, with a further 90,000 expected today.
At Glasgow Fort, staff began work in the early hours of the morning to ensure snow and ice was cleared for an estimated 50,000 shoppers, with another 70,000 expected today.
And at the city’s Silverburn shopping centre, watches and diamond jewellery were the most popular items, with jeweller Chisholm Hunter’s bestseller being a £1,200 diamond ring. However, footfall in high streets and shopping centres across the UK yesterday was reported to be lower than last year, as shoppers moved online.
Monitoring service Springboard said footfall was down 4 per cent on the hours until noon compared with last year, while they predicted a rise of more than 6.2 per cent in online sales.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at the group, said: ‘We did anticipate a drop in footfall on Boxing Day this year, but the scale of the drop is greater than expected.’
Meanwhile, a record-breaking £895million was spent online on Christmas Day itself – up 11 per cent on last year. Consumer experts claim £932,000 was spent every minute of the 16 hours people were awake.
‘Face covered in blood’