POLICE were called in to manage traffic as shoppers seeking bargains jammed the roads around Bicester Village.

Bargain hunters made a beeline for the designer shopping outlet to take advantage of discounts on Black Friday.

Originating in the US, Black Friday has become a major UK shopping day. Police were called to the shopping centre due to “exceptional numbers of shoppers and traffic in the area”.

Roads across North Oxfordshire, and parts of the city, were gridlocked yesterday, with police urging drivers to avoid the Bicester area.

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At midday Superintendent James Templer said police were trying to “alleviate the pressure” on the roads.

Delays of up to an hour were reported between junction 10 and 9 southbound on the M40, and the A41 to Bicester was completely blocked.

Oxford Mail:

Shoppers crowd into the stores.

Bicester Village had to turn shoppers away due to congestion in the car park, with some drivers parking on verges, but re-opened at 1pm once a “temporary car park” had been set up.

Thames Valley Police spokeswoman Francine Rodrigues, said: “Officers attended Bicester Village to maintain the peace because of the exceptional number of shoppers.

“Bicester Village routinely approaches Thames Valley Police to inform us if high volumes of traffic are expected.

“Yesterday, an unprecedented volume of traffic and people travelled on our roads to Bicester and Thames Valley Police responded to this exceptional increased volume as congestion arose in order to keep our roads flowing.”

Michelle Hilton, owner of Flower Petals of Bicester, saw drivers parking on pavements at Middleton Stoney Road.

She said: “It has been completely unbelievable. I usually drive to get my six-year-old from school, but I wouldn’t think of it today.

“People were parking on pavements, which is incredibly dangerous – some people are having to go into the road with their pushchairs. I’m dreading what it’s going to be like on Boxing Day.”

Oxford city centre was also crammed with shoppers.

Manager of the Clarendon Centre Ginny Fellows said: “We’ve certainly seen a lot of footfall today, a lot more than usual.

“Black Friday is a relatively new phenomenon in England, but retailers are starting to embrace it and we’ve got some great offers on at some of our shops. We expect about 25,000 people to have come to the Clarendon Centre today.”

Kat Parsons, 17, a shopping assistant at TopMan in Queen Street, added: “It’s been really manic today, more like a Saturday than a Friday.”

Manager of the Westgate Centre Brendan Hattam said the Game store opened at midnight to launch a new computer game and reopened again at 5am. He added: “Black Friday is starting to catch on.”

Lucy Stratford, 19, from Eynsham said: “It took me 45 minutes to get into town this morning because of the amount of people coming in, it normally takes 15.

“You couldn’t move in the city centre.”

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