OUTRAGED Christmas shoppers were left in tears as they endured a six hour wait to leave one of Britain's biggest shopping centres after a last-minute rush sparked traffic chaos.
Christmas shoppers were stuck in traffic for five hours trying to leave Bluewater shopping centre |
Some customers were seen crying with frustration while others got involved in angry stand-offs as the entire retail park came to a standstill.
Others were forced to abandon leaving altogether and went back into the complex to have dinner and watch films as they waited for the tailbacks to clear.
Hundreds of people were left sitting in their cars from 4pm as the sheer volume of last minute panic buyers left exit roads struggling to cope with the influx of seasonal shoppers.
Dancer Amie Everest, 28, became trapped in an upper level car park with her boyfriend Ian Varley, 32, from Medway, and ended up waiting in the same queue for 4.5 hours.
She said: "The layout of the car park is poorly designed with only one lane used as an exit.
"When Bluewater staff realised there was a problem they blocked off many of the entrances to stop more traffic getting stuck.
Police were called as shoppers were at gridlock around Bluewater |
Pics of getting out #bluewater tonight over 2hrs. Took 90 mins to get out of the car park. Not a warden in sight. pic.twitter.com/aLGlq1SpUu
Shoppers were in tears after being stuck in the queues |
"Cars were bumper to bumper and at a standstill. I was shopping from 9am until 3pm and trying to get out from 4pm.
"Most people were stuck near spaces so after a couple of hours they gave up and went back into the shopping centre to eat, but the people whose cars were in the queue were stuck.
"It was absolute mayhem." Kim Elliott, 24, gave up trying to leave in her car after an hour.
"I was waiting over an hour before I went back into my parking space and went back inside to ask staff what was happening.
"It took more than three and a half hours for me to get out.
"The police shut some of the roads just to let people out of the car parks.
"Everyone said they had never seen anything like it before - a few people said they'd been trying to leave since 4pm and were still there at 9pm." One driver, Sophie Stevens, 34, said she saw one woman sobbing in frustration and pleading with Bluewater staff to help them.
She said: "She looked like she was having a panic attack. She was crying and begging staff.
"Other people were getting involved in aggressive beeping wars.
But after getting stuck he and a friend parked up and went back in, attempting to leave again at 7pm.
"It's been crazy. It was getting out of the main building that held us up as everything filters into one lane. It was a nightmare." Another shopper, Adrian Dobbs, Tweeted: "Time to park in Bluewater: 10mins. Time to watch Star Wars 2hr. Time to do xmas shopping 30 mins. Time to get out of car park currently 2.5hrs..!" A spokeswoman for Kent Police said: "From what I understand a broken down vehicle and the sheer volume of traffic at Bluewater tonight caused delays to people trying to exit the shopping centre car parks.
"Local officers attended and directed traffic to help clear the backlog and the traffic was running freely by 10pm." Bluewater is the fourth largest shopping centre in the UK and opened in 1999 on the site of a disused quarry near Dartford.
A spokesman said staff were "aware" of the traffic problems and apologised to visitors.
He added: "Our operations team is working with Kent Police to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.
"Traffic is now flowing more freely and congestion in the blue car park - the area worst affected - is being cleared."
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