Tesco shoppers fume over 'ridiculous' online queues for Christmas delivery slots

Tesco opened its Christmas delivery slots at 6am this morning for those who were signed up for one of its delivery saver or click-and-collect plans

Tesco customers are furious after being forced to queue for Christmas delivery slots this morning.

The supermarket chain issued a warning yesterday that they only had until midnight last night to sign up for one one of its delivery saver or click-and-collect plans. Doing so would allow them to get early access to online delivery slots which opened at 6am today. Dozens of Tesco customers took to social media to complain about the service when it opened today.

One X user said: "How do @Tesco make such a farce out of booking a Xmas delivery slot? Been queuing since 6am. At 6:02 I logged on to Asda and had 23rd Dec slot checked out in a matter of minutes." A second shopper shared: "@Tesco Signed in just before 6am, in waiting room for 1 hour and 20 mins, get to your turn to shop, and nothing! Has now put me right back to the beginning of the queue. Whats the point in paying monthly Anytime Slots and no priority Xmas booking?"

A third shopper added: "Tesco I've had a delivery saver for over 13 years. For the past two years, I've been unable to get a Christmas delivery slot. It's like getting Beyonce tickets." A fourth added: "@Tesco Guess being unable to book a Christmas slot is common at the moment."

Other customers complained that they were booted out of the queue after their payment was rejected. One Tesco customer said: "I had a slot for Christmas delivery. I made four attempts at payment. But I was booted from my slot and am now at the back of the queue. Ridiculous!"

At around 8:30am this morning some Christmas shoppers reported that no delivery slots were available. One X user said: "@Tesco, I’ve just waited over an hour to get into priority booking for Christmas delivery slots, but when it was finally my turn, there’s no Christmas booking options available to me." However, Tesco has not confirmed this.

Tesco confirmed to the Mirror that there have been no technical issues in regards to the Christmas slots this year. However, it was not able to provide any data on the number of people in the queue when it opened at 6am.

This festive season, the supermarket chain gave early access to delivery slots to those who were signed up for one of its delivery or click-and-collect plans. For those who have not, Christmas delivery slots will open from 6am next week on Tuesday, November 12.

Last year, Tesco's website crashed as 300,000 were queuing to secure their own delivery slots. This year, the supermarket chain said it had expanded its delivery. This year, the supermarket chain it had introduced "thousands" of extra delivery slots in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. It also said it had added more than 60 vans to its delivery fleet in anticipation of the demand.