Tesco shoppers have been filmed pushing and shoving one another to get at discount fruit and veg in what could be a sad indication of food poverty in austerity Britain.
The footage, filmed by pub manager Stewart Tobias at the Dunstable branch of Tesco in Bedfordshire, shows customers scrambling to get their hands on fruit and vegetables that had been reduced from £2 to 20-30p, the Mirror reported.
The incident happened on Wednesday evening – two days before Tesco began its 11-day Black Friday promotion – an event associated with chaotic scenes as consumers sharpen their elbows to pick up cut-price deals.
Tobias told Mirror: 'It was just crazy watching people fighting for fruit and veg that had 50p off - I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
“It's not about Black Friday, it's all about Tesco madness.I went into the store on Wednesday night to pick up some bits with my girlfriend Karen and saw all these people running around picking up cheap meat.
“I spoke to a bloke who worked there who said the same people came in each day and stood around for hours waiting for it to come out. They then buy it and go.”
Tobias added: “When I saw everyone it looked quite dangerous - I was quite scared to get there in to be honest.”
In a statement reported by Mail Online, a Tesco spokesman said: 'Our Black Friday event is proving to be extremely popular with customers, both in store and online.
“We anticipate over 14 million visits to our Tesco Direct website across our Black Friday event with over four million visits expected on Black Friday itself.
“To make sure no good food goes to waste we do reduce the price of some fresh products towards the end of the day. When the store is busy we have colleagues on hand to manage the reductions to make sure all our customers can shop safely.”
