Black Friday: No repeat of chaotic scenes as West Midlands shops launch deals
Shoppers keen to bag a bargain have hit the sales as shops across the UK opened their doors early for Black Friday, but things got off to a relatively slow start.
Retailers made cut-price deals available online from midnight and many shops changed their opening hours to offer customers more time to snap up discounted stock, ranging from televisions to toothbrushes.
But there were no signs of the huge crowds which gathered last year, or the scuffles which broke out as customers fought over big-ticket items.
At Merry Hill, it appeared to be a quiet trading day. Val Bradley from Gornal arrived at Debenhams at 6.45am to 'beat the queue'. By at 8am she was still on her own.
Shoppers at Tesco Extra in Cradley Heath saw no repeat of last year's chaotic scenes after being issued with tickets to enter the Black Friday section of the store.
Only around 40 people arrived at the shop before its 5am opening and the queue for items was estimated to be around a tenth as big as last year.
It is expected that customers could spend their way to the UK's first £1 billion in online shopping day today.
Tesco, which opened many of its stores at 5am, had installed queuing systems and assured shoppers there would be enough security and stock following scuffles over limited numbers of items last year.
Last year's chaos around the event - at stores other than just Asda - prompted Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, to condemn lax security arrangements in place to cope with the huge crowds.
Footage from Asda in Wembley, north west London, showed security staff struggling to contain a crowd of shoppers grappling for cut-price televisions.
Some customers had to be separated as the sale sparked furious exchanges, while two women were seen wrestling over a TV.
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