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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Reading Ikea: Four-hour car park delays | Reading Ikea: Four-hour car park delays |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Shoppers were trapped for up to four hours as they tried to leave the UK's newest Ikea store on Sunday afternoon. | Shoppers were trapped for up to four hours as they tried to leave the UK's newest Ikea store on Sunday afternoon. |
| Customers took to social media to complain of gridlock at Ikea Reading during the first weekend of opening. | Customers took to social media to complain of gridlock at Ikea Reading during the first weekend of opening. |
| Peter Coe tweeted he was "stuck for 4 hours trying to get OUT of the car park! Nightmare!". | Peter Coe tweeted he was "stuck for 4 hours trying to get OUT of the car park! Nightmare!". |
| Store manager Johanna Heuren said a "traffic management plan" would remain in place while the cause of Sunday's delays was investigated. | |
| Ms Heuren added: "The number of visitors to the store was in line with the previous busy days during the opening weekend where our traffic management plan worked efficiently as planned." | |
| Stacey Barber, 22, from Farnborough, Hampshire, said: "We were stuck for three hours and we only went to return something." | |
| Ms Barber added that staff handed out bottles of water but had "no idea what they were doing". | |
| "People just kept beeping their cars to get attention but all we got from Ikea was 'sorry for the delay'." | |
| Motorists had been warned to expect disruption and Ikea had put 40 "traffic guards" in place at the first store to open in the UK for seven years. | Motorists had been warned to expect disruption and Ikea had put 40 "traffic guards" in place at the first store to open in the UK for seven years. |
| The retailer had spent £4m on new junctions and road widening and West Berkshire Council said it had spent £900,000 on the junction from the A4, which leads into the store, to "ensure traffic flows as smoothly as possible". | The retailer had spent £4m on new junctions and road widening and West Berkshire Council said it had spent £900,000 on the junction from the A4, which leads into the store, to "ensure traffic flows as smoothly as possible". |
| As temperatures reached 25C (77F), Anna McSherry from Wokingham told the BBC that stewards "let everyone on the top floor out first because of the hot weather". | |
| Others said Ikea staff were "absolute superstars" handing out water to drivers. | Others said Ikea staff were "absolute superstars" handing out water to drivers. |
| Helen Grant, wrote on Facebook: "Stuck in traffic coming out of Ikea Reading still in the car park, however your staff are doing a fab job trying to get it sorted". | Helen Grant, wrote on Facebook: "Stuck in traffic coming out of Ikea Reading still in the car park, however your staff are doing a fab job trying to get it sorted". |
| The £10m store is said to have created 370 jobs, with 90% of people recruited locally, which the council described as "a real boost for the region". | |
| Alok Sharma, MP for Reading West, welcomed the creation of new jobs but said he had "longstanding concerns" - which he first expressed during planning - "about the likely impact of heavy traffic on local roads". | Alok Sharma, MP for Reading West, welcomed the creation of new jobs but said he had "longstanding concerns" - which he first expressed during planning - "about the likely impact of heavy traffic on local roads". |
| Did you visit the new Ikea store in Reading on Sunday? Did you get caught up in the traffic? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences. | |
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