Posted by goldenface
Crush Chaos at Ikea Store Opening
Several people were hurt in the crush as thousands flocked to the midnight opening of Ikea's newest store. The store in Edmonton, north London, stayed open for just 30 minutes because of safety fears and five people had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
The company blamed the chaos, in the early hours of Thursday, on "an unforeseen volume of customers".
Tottenham MP David Lammy said Ikea should have known offering cheap prices in a deprived area would cause a rush.
Mr Lammy told BBC News the adverts, calling for people to arrive before 0300 GMT to get the best bargains, were put up in Tube stations in the area and would have reached a large number of people.
He said: "Ikea must have known that in opening the store next to the second most deprived constituency in London and by leafleting the area about knock down bargains for those who arrived first, people would flock to their store in large numbers.
"They did not put in place the right infrastructure to deal with that."
People became agitated and eventually they started trying to charge the doors
He said he did not think the store should reopen until health and safety standards had been checked.
Ikea said it had worked closely with the emergency services in planning for the opening
An Ikea spokesperson told BBC News they would not be reopening until safety issues had been considered and doors damaged in the rush repaired.
The company also said it was "deeply shocked, upset and concerned" and blamed a queue "surge" for the crush.
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2007-12-08 10:12 ]
Posted by arien617
Old news
That place opened like 2 years ago!
Posted by haynesycop
People are freaks why get so excited over plastic cereal bowls and rugs and stuff lol!
Posted by arien617
My parents went to have a look if it was any diff. to the Brent branch, police told 'em to turn around and go back lol.
Posted by fatreg
On 2007-12-08 22:08:51, haynesycop wrote:
People are freaks why get so excited over plastic cereal bowls and rugs and stuff lol!
No need to get jealous, just because they don't do modular furniture!
Posted by haynesycop
Hahaha!
I'm not jealous i'm getting a fatboy instead!
Posted by fatreg
I hope you're getting one of them to remind you of moi, fatreg
Posted by haynesycop
MEH! Don't be sooooooooo silly!
Posted by fatreg
I was referring to the name my dear.. fat boy
fat reg
get it? no?
OK, I'll get my coat.
Posted by EastCoastStar
we just got an ikea in orlando a month ago, its still crazy madness there!