GTA 4 HITS TESCO STORES!

Good Morning Sir Terry,

Some background information on me - I am a disabled person with both physical and mental health issues. I do not like crowds, suffer paranoia and struggle to stand/walk for long after fracturing my back some years ago.

I have just returned from your Fforestfach, Swansea store, where I was assaulted, because of your poor handling of the release of Grand Theft Auto for the Playstation 3 and X-Box 360. I decided too late that I would like GTA and was unable to pre-order a copy from the usual games retailers. Knowing that Tesco sells games and is often competitive on price, my Wife phoned the store yesterday evening to check they were going to have stock. We were told that they had plenty, there was no need to queue early but they could not confirm the price.

11.35 arrived and we set off for the store. We arrived approximately
12 minutes later and entered the store, heading immediately for the games aisle. I didn't see the point of getting the electric buggy as usual as I wouldn't be doing a lot of walking. There was a queue already formed but, it didn't seem too large so we joined it. At this point I commented to my Wife that we may not get a copy but as it was approaching midnight, we may as well wait. On or just after midnight, the queue rapidly moved forward. It soon became apparent that instead of placing the games on the shelves, they were going to be sold from the customer services desk. I walked as quickly as possible and soon became embroiled in a scrum of people to get a game. This was an extremely difficult thing for me to do because of the amount of people and their close proximity to me. There were several people that were pushing in and forcing their way through to the front. I stood my ground despite being jostled and pushed back and forth putting pressure on my back. Suddenly out of nowhere, I was punched or elbowed in the ribs. I stood there for a moment afraid of what to do and then, enraged, I left the queue to complain to the security guard.

I explained to the security guard what had just happened and I now apologise for my use of language towards him. You have to remember that I had just been hit and was quite upset to say the least. I asked him who was responsible for the situation. He advised it was the problem of the Duty Manager and duly went to make a call for him. The Duty Manager some moments later meandered up to me. I explained what had happened yet again, still quite shaken by the whole thing. He informed me that it wasn't his fault but that of the Store Manager for choosing the method of sale. Now, I am not stupid, I realise that having dozens of gamers wandering around with their copy of GTA could pose a security risk but, the organisation was a big problem. I reiterated this point to the Duty Manager who spoke to a colleague on the security desk and wandered off to check the CCTV footage. Some time passed whereupon he meandered back to me with his hands in his pockets head bowed. He duly asked what I expected turning up when I did quoting the time on the CCTV. He said there were people in front of me who deserved to get their copy first.He implied that I had not queued and was trying to get a copy by dubious methods. I again reiterated that it was not about actually getting a copy anymore but about being assaulted. I had given up on getting a copy as they had run out of PS3 copies whilst he was reviewing things. There were people in the original queue behind me, that actually managed to avoid being assaulted, and stay in the scrum, who received a copy of the PS3 version. At this point, we left.

The whole management of the release was poor. Had a book of raffles tickets been booked out, they could have been handed out to waiting customers. Had the customers been informed by the staff they were queuing in the wrong place, the scrum could have been avoided. Had the security guards who were chatting the whole while with some friends bothered to do their jobs, they could have monitored the situation and prevent it being the bun fight it was. Especially as their desk is a matter of feet from the customer services desk.

Had your Duty Manager given a damn about what I was saying, I may not be writing this now. His attitude was slovenly, disbelieving and rude.

I know GTA is a violent game but I didn't realise actually buying it would affect my health.

I look forward to your comments Sir Terry.

Steve Birkett