Chaos descended at a Tesco supermarket in Amersham after a power outage left numerous customers unable to pay for their goods.
In the afternoon of Sunday, June 16, which also happened to be Father’s Day, an announcement was made to shoppers that due to a technical issue, most of the tills were not in operation.
Only the self-checkout and the Scan as You Shop services were still available, but due to a sudden increase in demand, many shoppers queued from one side of the store to the other in order to purchase their items.
Others opted to abandon their shopping trolleys altogether, with there being a nearly 30 minute wait to leave the supermarket following heavy traffic in the car park.
One customer described it as ‘being back in the pandemic’.
“Tracey Withero, who was at the supermarket that day, said: “I was really lucky as I was using Scan as you Shop & had almost completed my shopping when they made the first announcement about the tills so I left as quickly as I could.
“The queue for the tills was from the self-checkout when back to the alcohol aisle, and trying to get out of the car park was frustrating.
“I had frozen and cold shopping in my boot and have disabilities, so it was a struggle being in the car as you were just sitting for long periods.
“I’d only gone in for a couple of bits so managed to get away quickly, but the car park was chaos with people getting angry at each other.”
Despite the madness that followed at Tesco, many of the shop’s staff were praised for how they treated its customers.
Several were spotted trying to speed up the process by making frequent announcements.
Yet despite their best, the store was closed for around an hour until the power was restored.
Upon reopening, c
Mrs Withero continued: “The staff were being really good and trying to help people get through as quickly as they could.
“They were putting frequent announcements out over the tannoys to warn people of the issues.
“I guess they didn’t know what the issue was or how quickly it could be repaired so they were doing their best to manage under the circumstances.
“It would be good if they could give people stuck in it some sort of recompense by way of apology.
“Even just a £10 voucher by way of apology, or people with a small basket with only a couple of things, let them go free of charge.
“Small loss to Tesco but a huge gesture to their customers.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “Our Amersham superstore is open as normal following a brief closure yesterday afternoon due to a power outage which impacted some of the tills.
“We apologise for the inconvenience.”
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