Christmas shoppers struggle with mammoth Tesco queue and crashing site
One customer said they logged on just before 6am to find more than 135,000 people in the queue.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.People looking to secure a Tesco Christmas slot this morning have complained of a queue of over 100,000 by 6am and a crashing site.
Delivery Saver customers were told they could book a slot from 6am on November 15, but some complained that the queue was opened before the advertised time.
Posting on Twitter, one customer said: “I logged on at 5.59 (am) to get ready only to find over 135,000 in the queue already.”
By 6.13am, users were posting screenshots that showed the queue was up to 180,000 people.
Shortly after 9am a customer posted: “I got on after a 2.5 hour wait. Managed to get a slot on the 21st (22 and 23 already fully booked).”
I was 38,000 in the queue and the app 'refreshed' itself and now I'm number 178,000. You're having a laugh
Others complained they spent time waiting in the queue only to be kicked out: “Hey @Tesco just sat for half an hour in your xmas queue and as soon as I reached the front of the queue I got kicked out and now the wait is an hour.”
Another said: “I was 38,000 in the queue and the app ‘refreshed’ itself and now I’m number 178,000. You’re having a laugh.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We’re currently seeing a high number of visits to our website and Groceries app and some customers are temporarily having difficulty logging on or placing orders.
“We’re really sorry about this. There are still slots available for both home delivery and click & collect over the Christmas period and we’re working to get things back up and running as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we recommend that customers use our website to place their order.”
Tesco is relatively late to open bookings for its Christmas delivery slots, with most other supermarkets having released them last month.
Shoppers had been expected to take the slots in greater numbers than usual this year as they set tighter budgets and seek to spread the cost of Christmas in an effort to cope with cost-of-living pressures.