BLACK Friday was on its way to becoming the biggest online shopping day in UK history as consumers shunned the high street in search of bargains on the web.

Shopping centres and stores all across Glasgow reported a calm day in contrast to the scenes of chaos which were seen last year.

Online retailers reported record-breaking sales from the first few hours of the bonanza making it likely that online retail sales in the UK will surpass £1 billion in one day.

By the end of the day retail analyst Experian-IMRG was predicting that spending online will hit £1.07 billion, a 32 per cent increase on last year’s £810 million.

But the huge volume of traffic – Ebay is expecting nine million Britons to visit its website today – means that the websites of many retailers are struggling to cope.

Argos was among them with reports that its website has crashed several times and consumers have been confronted with a holding page saying ‘Oops...Sorry to hold you up’.

About 60 bargain hunters, some in pyjamas and dressing gowns, queued for more than an hour at Tesco Extra in Silverburn, Glasgow, which had closed between midnight and 5am in preparation for Black Friday.

Staff gave out tickets on arrival and only allowed 10 people in at a time to avoid any disturbances.

In 2014, hundreds of excited shoppers descended on the same store, which later had to be closed amid scenes of chaos.
A police car patrolled the surrounding area in case of a repeat of last year’s scenes.

On this occasion, the queue had disappeared within half an hour, although one casual customer who arrived at 4.55am complained he was not able to buy a pint of milk due to the wait.

The most popular items being wheeled out of the store included televisons and other household appliances.

The Braehead shopping centre in Glasgow saw a minimal increase in footfall, with only Currys PC World welcoming customers early for the festive rush.