Christmas Shoppers Trapped In 5 Hour Wait To Leave Bluewater Shopping Centre

Christmas shoppers endured a five hour wait to leave one of Britain’s biggest shopping centres after a last-minute rush caused traffic chaos.

Drivers were stranded in long queues as the Bluewater mall in Kent struggled to cope with a huge influx of people on the hunt for last-minute presents.

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 left their vehicles 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 sitting in their cars from 4pm as the sheer volume of last minute panic buyers left exit roads struggling to cope.

Some were still in the same queues at 9pm as shopping centre staff shut exit roads and blocked off some of the busiest car parks to stop more people getting stuck.

Dancer Amie Everest, 28, became trapped in an upper level car park with her boyfriend Ian Varley, 32, from Medway, and ended up waiting 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.

‘The simple thing would have been to let us all go down the entrance to get out, but they wouldn’t let us.

‘Cars were bumper to bumper and at a standstill. It was absolute mayhem.’

Kim Elliott, 24, gave up trying to leave in her car after an hour, explaining: ‘I got there at 3.30pm and saw loads of traffic trying to leave.

‘I went back into my parking space and went back inside to ask staff what was happening. They said nothing was wrong and it was just people leaving. It took more than three and a half hours for me to get out.’

One driver, Sophie Stevens, 34, said she saw one woman sobbing in frustration and pleading with Bluewater staff to help them.

‘She looked like she was having a panic attack. She was crying and begging staff. Other people were getting involved in aggressive beeping wars,’ Ms Stevens said.

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 that the site’s operation teams worked with police to ease the congestion.