Sales addicts scramble for bargains

HE was six feet tall with shoulders like a forward prop and still the prospect of tackling the seething mass ahead left him like a frightened girl guide at an Ozzy Osbourne concert.

The reluctant shopper took two steps back, shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head firmly. "I'm not going in there," he said. "It's scary."

The teeming crowd in the Next store in Dublin were not really that scary but the fact they'd been there since 5am was definitely a Stephen King storyline.