THE opening of England’s largest Ikea descended into a riot which left six people in hospital and thousands more disappointed yesterday after managers underestimated the British obsession with a bargain.

The 28,500sq m store in Edmonton, North London, had to close just 30 minutes after its midnight opening because 6,000 customers — three times the number expected — turned up, enticed by £30 bed frames and £45 sofas.

In the moments after the doors swung open, the store’s 50 security guards found themselves overwhelmed by the eager hordes, who jostled and elbowed their way into the showroom.

As they squeezed through the entrance, scores of shoppers were thrown to the ground and pinned against the wall by the throng, causing tempers to flare.

Once inside, the behaviour worsened. Video footage showed shoppers fighting over furniture and one man pinned against a wall by a burly customer as they argued over a sofa. A woman was left with blood pouring from her nose after she was pushed against a wall. Another was heard screaming in pain as she tried to escape the crush.

Police already on the scene called for back-up and nine ambulances, six fire engines, one medical rapid response car and an emergency control vehicle were sent to the store.

But the emergency services were delayed because dozens of customers had abandoned their cars along the North Circular. A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: “Many people abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the A406, making their way to the store on foot. This has caused severe traffic difficulties.”

More than 20 people suffered heat exhaustion, many of them as they fought their way up the escalators, in the 30 minutes before managers decided to shut the store.

Some customers had to be taken out on stretchers, while others were given first aid by staff on the shop floor. Six people had to stay in hospital overnight.

A stabbing in a nearby Tesco petrol station was initially linked to Ikea, but police said later that they believed it was gang-related. Almost all the 500 three-seater, £45 special- offer leather sofas, reduced from £325, were sold in the 30 minutes after the store opened.

Karyn Christian, 38, a civil servant from Edmonton, started queueing at midday on Wednesday to get one of the prized leather sofas. She said that it was chaos when the store opened. “When they opened the doors I was pushed aside and sprained my ankle. My cousin was pushed over. When we got inside, I saw people pulling at different ends of a sofa, shouting, ‘Mine! Mine!’ and others lying on the sofas trying to stop others carrying them away. It was like nothing I have ever seen before.”

She said that a fellow customer had threatened her with a wooden mallet. Yesterday the store delivered the wrong sofa, so she returned to complain — only to find it closed.

Dwayne, 24, from Enfield, said: “There were people literally fighting over a £45 sofa. One woman collapsed and a man carried her out on his shoulders.”

John Olie, Ikea UK’s deputy manager, said the company was “totally shocked and overwhelmed” by what had happened, and blamed queue-jumpers for inflaming tempers. “We didn’t predict this at all. We’ve opened 12 stores in the UK and we have had opening offers before.”

He denied that the special offers were irresponsible. There was blanket advertising on billboards and local papers at the opposite end of the capital in Richmond. “We were just totally overwhelmed by the number of visitors that we had,” he said.

Mr Olie said that the building had two entrances, but one had to be closed to keep customers and workers safe. “We are really, really sorry.”.

Later in the morning hundreds of potential customers and workers turned up at the store, which was displaying a huge “open” banner. But Mr Olie said that it was unlikely to re-open before the weekend, and there would be no more bargains for the time being.

HOME TRUTHS

• Ikea was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, a 17-year-old Swede who came up with the name by adding the first letters of the farm and village — Elmaryd and Agunnaryd — where he grew up, to his initials
  
• The company now runs over 200 stores in 33 countries, with an estimated annual turnover of £9.3 billion
  
• Last year Kamprad was reported to have become the richest man in the world with a reputed personal fortune of £32bn
  
• As a young man he had links to Swedish Nazi sympathisers and may have been a full member of Sweden’s equivalent of the Hitler Youth, although he claims that he cannot remember

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