Black Friday 2015 UK: Police asks retailers to extend bargains day to a week in a bid to stave off the chaos of last year at stores like Tesco and Asda
Perhaps Asda was right to step back from Black Friday.
Police have called on retailers to put into place a better strategy for dealing with the huge numbers of shoppers expected to storm high streets and supermarkets on 27 November.
The National Police Chiefs' Council has urged retailers to deploy more staff and security to help handle the bargain-hunters, who became increasingly frenzied last year, resulting in more than a few fisticuffs.
Police last year blamed retailers for not having prepared ahead of Black Friday.
Deputy chief constable Sue Fish has written to retailers, asking them to consider running promotional events for more than a single day.
She said: “Retailers obviously have a right to conduct promotional activity and sales and it is expected that this will happen in the run-up to Christmas.
“However, I urge retail companies and their store managers to ensure that they have sufficient security arrangements in place to cope with demand for heavily-promoted sales. I would encourage marketing departments to make store security staff and any business crime partnerships they may be members of aware of any changes in opening times designed to extend sales periods.
"I would also encourage stores to consider, as I know some retailers are, extending the Black Friday period to commence on the 23 November rather than just the Friday of that week, thereby allowing Christmas shoppers an extended opportunity to avail themselves of the bargains. I have written to retailers to reinforce these points.”
“The police will intervene if necessary to protect public order and safety, but we should be the service of last resort, not a substitute for carefully-considered in-store security plans. Having to deploy officers to deal with the fallout of highly-marketed but under-staffed sales in shops diverts valuable resources from other areas of policing and is in most cases avoidable through advance planning."
Not sure what all the fuss is about? Check out this brief history of Black Friday: