Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Shoppers struck by Black Friday fever

Shoppers struck by Black Friday fever

SHOPPERS were gripped by “Black Friday” fever yesterday – and have been urged to leave their cars at home and use public transport instead today.

Aberdeen’s malls were packed, car parks were full, roads were gridlocked and people queued for taxis and buses as what is already a phenomenon in the US hit the north-east.

The day after Thanksgiving in America is when retailers traditionally offer big discounts to tempt Christmas bargain hunters into stores.

The trend has caught on in the UK and there were even reports of fights between customers at shops in England yesterday.

One shopper described the scenes in Aberdeen yesterday as “bedlam”.

Jennifer McLachlan, marketing administrator at the Trinity Centre, said: “It has been extremely busy since first thing this morning. The car parks have been full all day and people have been queuing to get in.

“Many of the stores have sales on and Black Friday is becoming much more prevalent in the UK.

“You hear customers talking about it, which they never used to before.”

Irene Wood, a pensioner from Mannofield in the city, said she had been forced to take her car home after failing to find a parking space and then waited 25 minutes for a bus to take her back to the shops.

She said: “I couldn’t find anywhere to park, all of the car parks were chockablock and the streets were full of traffic.

“It was quite dangerous because cars and people were everywhere. It was manic.

Alex Palmer, 59, a marine engineer from Peterhead, described the city centre as “bedlam”.

“We were lucky to get a space, it’s just hectic,” he said.

There were also long queues for buses in Union Street yesterday afternoon, with the lines of people stretching twice the length of most bus shelters.

Taxis were in high demand and one elderly disabled woman said she and her friend had been unable to order one because no more bookings were being taken.

They were forced to walk to the rank on Back Wynd where they joined a queue of more than 20 people.

Most of the car parks were declared full at lunchtime by Aberdeen City Council and the local authority warned that the city was “extremely busy”.

It has advised people planning to the city over the weekend to car share with others or opt for public transport instead, “as they may experience difficulty in finding parking spaces”.

However, city centre manager Tom Moore insisted that although queues would be unavoidable, motorists should be able to find spaces if they remained patient.

He said: “You’ll always get 20 or 25 cars waiting to go in but the exits are just as busy as the entrances.

“Look at the electronic signs and they will tell you where there are spaces.

“People will always try to get to the car park closest to where they are going but the best advice is the first car park you come to at the edge of the city centre, go in it.”

Comment, Page 32