Thousands of customers were stuck in a queue from 6am this morning (Picture: Getty)
Christmas early bird shoppers who were trying to secure a Tesco slot this morning have complained of a queue of nearly 300,000 and a crashing site.
Delivery Saver customers were told they could book a slot from 6am today, but some complained that the queue was opened before the advertised time.
Posting on Twitter, one customer said: ‘I logged on at 5.59 (am) to get ready only to find over 135,000 in the queue already.’
The Tesco website crashed after thousands of people tried to book a slot (Picture: Tesco.com)
Tesco staff have got a busy few weeks ahead of them (Picture: Bloomberg)
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By 6.13am, users were posting screenshots that showed the queue was up to 180,000 people.
Others complained they spent time waiting in the queue only to be kicked out: ‘Hey @Tesco just sat for half an hour in your xmas queue and as soon as I reached the front of the queue I got kicked out and now the wait is an hour.’
Another said: ‘I was 38,000 in the queue and the app ‘refreshed’ itself and now I’m number 178,000. You’re having a laugh.’
A Tesco spokesperson said: ‘We’re currently seeing a high number of visits to our website and groceries app and some customers are temporarily having difficulty logging on or placing orders.
‘We’re really sorry about this. There are still slots available for both home delivery and click and collect over the Christmas period and we’re working to get things back up and running as quickly as we can.
‘In the meantime, we recommend that customers use our website to place their order.’
Tesco says it has over 1.2 million slots available in the week leading up to Christmas.
The slots that became available today are for customers with Delivery Saver plans only. Slots for other shoppers will open on November 22.
Tesco delivery pass prices start from £2.49 a month, or £14.94 a year, for click and collect, while off-peak delivery passes cost £4.99 a month, or £29.94 a year, for next-day deliveries.
The most expensive anytime Tesco delivery plan costs £7.99 a month, or £47.94 a year, for same day deliveries.
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Shoppers were left incredibly frustrated after they logged on at 6am only to find out the queue had already opened, they said online.